Detecting ransomware in monitored data

ABSTRACT

An information management system includes one or more client computing devices in communication with a storage manager and a secondary storage computing device. The storage manager manages the primary data of the one or more client computing devices and the secondary storage computing device manages secondary copies of the primary data of the one or more client computing devices. Each client computing device may be configured with a ransomware protection monitoring application that monitors for changes in their primary data. The ransomware protection monitoring application may input the changes detected in the primary data into a machine-learning classifier, where the classifier generates an output indicative of whether a client computing device has been affected by malware and/or ransomware. Using a virtual machine host, a virtual machine copy of an affected client computing device may be instantiated using a secondary copy of primary data of the affected client computing device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Pat. App. No.63/160,459, titled “DETECTING RANSOMWARE IN MONITORED DATA” and filedMar. 12, 2021, and the benefit of priority to U.S. Pat. App. No.63/160,636, titled “MEDIA AGENT HARDENING AGAINST RANSOMWARE ATTACKS”and filed Mar. 12, 2021, the disclosures of which are incorporated byreference in their entirety.

Any and all applications, if any, for which a foreign or domesticpriority claim is identified in the Application Data Sheet of thepresent application are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentireties under 37 CFR 1.57.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentand/or the patent disclosure as it appears in the United States Patentand Trademark Office patent file and/or records, but otherwise reservesall copyrights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND

Businesses recognize the commercial value of their data and seekreliable, cost-effective ways to protect the information stored on theircomputer networks while minimizing impact on productivity. A companymight back up critical computing systems such as databases, fileservers, web servers, virtual machines, and so on as part of a daily,weekly, or monthly maintenance schedule. The company may similarlyprotect computing systems used by its employees, such as those used byan accounting department, marketing department, engineering department,and so forth. Given the rapidly expanding volume of data undermanagement, companies also continue to seek innovative techniques formanaging data growth, for example by migrating data to lower-coststorage over time, reducing redundant data, pruning lower priority data,etc. Enterprises also increasingly view their stored data as a valuableasset and look for solutions that leverage their data. For instance,data analysis capabilities, information management, improved datapresentation and access features, and the like, are in increasingdemand.

In preserving primary data of one or more client computing devices, acompany or organization may back up the primary data of the one or moreclient computing devices to one or more secondary storage devices.However, the users of the client computing devices may unknowinglyintroduce nefarious or problematic software into the primary data oftheir client computing device. Malware, ransomware, viruses, and othervarious forms of malicious software may find their way into the primarydata. Furthermore, these types of malicious software are designed to laydormant and undetected by the user that inadvertently downloaded orinstalled them. When the client computing device backs up its primarydata, that backup may include the malicious software with it. Should theuser require a restoration of the primary data from the (now-infected)backup, the restored primary data will include the malicious software.In addition, depending on the complexity or sophistication of themalicious software, the malicious software may replicate and/orpropagate itself throughout the backup architecture of the company ororganization, and could potentially disrupt or preclude the company ororganization from performing further backup and/or restorationoperations. Thus, malicious and nefarious software presents itself as anon-trivial problem in the field of data archival and retrieval.

SUMMARY

To address these and other deficiencies, this disclosure describes aninformation management system that uses one or more machine-learningalgorithms and/or trained classifiers to determine whether file systemchanges on managed client computing devices indicate that an anomaly ispresent in the file systems of the client computing devices. Theinformation management system may include various devices and componentssuch as a storage manager that manages primary data of one or moreclient computing devices; one or more secondary storage devices that areused to back up the primary data of the one or more client computingdevices; and, one or more secondary storage computing devices thatgenerate secondary copies from the primary data and manage and/orprovide access to the secondary storage devices. In addition, theinformation management system may include a virtual machine host incommunication with one or more of the storage manager, the clientcomputing devices, and the secondary storage computing devices, wherethe virtual machine host provides access to one or more virtualmachines. The storage manager and/or the client computing devices mayleverage the virtual machine host to create a virtual machine of aclient computing using the corresponding secondary copy of the primarydata of the client computing device stored in the secondary storagedevice.

As the storage manager may be responsible for managing the primary dataof the one or more client computing devices, each of the one or moreclient computing devices may be configured with a monitoring applicationthat monitors changes and/or modifications to the primary data and/orfile system data of the client computing device. The monitoringapplication may be configured to track and/or record changes and/ormodifications to the primary data and/or file system data of the clientcomputing device. The tracked changes and/or modifications to theprimary data and/or file system data may be input to a trainedclassifier that determines, or outputs a probability value, that thetracked changes are anomalous and/or correspond to malicious activity.

The trained classifier may be trained using a training data set thatindicates which types of file system changes and/or primary data changeslikely indicate that the changes correspond to malicious activity oranomalous behavior. After an initial round of training, the trainedclassifier may be stored on each of the one or more client computingdevices, where the trained classifier reports on the activity monitoredby the monitoring application to the storage manager. Additionally,and/or alternatively, the trained classifier may be managed and/orstored locally at the storage manager, where each of the monitoringapplications provide their tracked changes to the trained classifier,which then determines (or outputs a probability of) whether the trackedchanges indicate anomalous and/or malicious activity. The storagemanager may further store the tracked changes and/or detected anomaliesin a database for later reference and/or retrieval.

The storage manager may further provide a graphical user interface, suchas a web-based interface, for reporting on, and/or displaying, thedetected anomalies. The graphical user interface may be implemented as adashboard-type system, where the graphical user interface includesmultiple graphical user interfaces or displays that provide informationabout various aspects of the information management system including,but not limited to, the number of monitored client computing devices,the number of monitored client computing devices that may be affected,the number of backup jobs that have been performed, the types of filesystem changes and/or modifications that have been detected, thelocation(s) of the client computing devices that may have been affectedby malware and/or malicious software, and other such displays asdiscussed further below.

Using the graphical user interfaces, an administrator or operator of theinformation management system may view various aspects of the monitoredclient computing devices. The administrator or operator may viewparticular client computing devices and the file system changes and/ormodifications that have been detected by the installed monitoringapplication. The administrator or operator may also view the changes atvarious granularities and, in particular, may inspect the detectedchanges and/or modifications at the directory and/or file level.Furthermore, the graphical user interfaces may include graphs or othercharts that depict the detected changes and/or modifications to theclient computing devices over a predetermined period of time, which maybe changeable by the administrator or operator of the informationmanagement system.

In addition to being able to view particular client computing devicesand the modifications and/or changes to their file system, theadministrator and/or operator may revert and/or restore primary data toa particular client computing device using the graphical user interfacesprovided by the information management system. The administrator and/oroperator may restore the primary data to the particular client computingdevice from a backup copy or secondary copy stored in a secondarystorage device. The administrator and/or operator may restore entirevolumes, particular directories, and/or individual files to the clientcomputing device from the secondary copies stored in the secondarystorage device.

Further still, in the event that the administrator or operator isconcerned with the overall health of a client computing device, theadministrator or operator may instantiate a virtual machine copy of theclient computing device using the virtual machine host. In this regard,a backup copy of the primary data of the client computing device may berestored to a virtual machine rather than being restored to the clientcomputing device. Furthermore, the virtual machine may be instantiatedto be similar and/or nearly identical to the client computing device,such as by having a similar virtual processor, virtual memory, virtualhard drives, and so forth. The virtual machine may also be instantiatedsuch that the virtual machine includes similar credentials as the clientcomputing device, such that the user of the client computing device mayaccess the virtual machine as if the virtual machine were the clientcomputing device. In this way, where a client computing device issuspected of being too corrupted and/or non-recoverable, a virtualmachine version of the client computing device may be instantiated usinga secondary copy restored from the secondary storage device, which mayinclude one or more recent backups of the primary data of the clientcomputing device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary informationmanagement system.

FIG. 1B is a detailed view of a primary storage device, a secondarystorage device, and some examples of primary data and a secondary copyof the primary data.

FIG. 1C is a block diagram of an exemplary information management systemincluding a storage manager, one or more data agents, and one or moremedia agents.

FIG. 1D is a block diagram illustrating a scalable informationmanagement system.

FIG. 1E illustrates certain secondary copy operations according to anexemplary storage policy.

FIGS. 1F-1H are block diagrams illustrating suitable data structuresthat may be employed by the information management system.

FIG. 2A illustrates a system and technique for synchronizing primarydata to a destination such as a failover site using a secondary copy.

FIG. 2B illustrates an information management system architectureincorporating use of a network file system (NFS) protocol forcommunicating between the primary and secondary storage subsystems.

FIG. 2C is a block diagram of an example of a highly scalable manageddata pool architecture.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an information management systemthat supports detecting ransomware in one or more client computingdevices, in accordance with an example embodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a client computing device of theinformation management system of FIG. 3, according to an exampleembodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a secondary storage computingdevice of the information management system of FIG. 3, according to anexample embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates a graphical user interface for displaying an overviewof anomaly detection information provided by the storage manager of theinformation management system of FIG. 3, according to an exampleembodiment.

FIG. 7 illustrates a graphical user interface that displays clientcomputing devices having detected anomalies in their file system dataand/or primary data, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 8 illustrates a graphical user interface that displays a graphicalmap of the geographical locations of client computing devices havingdetected anomalies, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 9 illustrates a graphical user interface displaying specificanomaly detection information for a particular client computing device,according to an example embodiment.

FIGS. 10A-10B illustrate a graphical user interface that display graphsof detected changes in a particular client computing device, accordingto example embodiments.

FIGS. 11A-11B illustrate graphical user interfaces that display filesystem information for a client computing device, according to anexample embodiment.

FIGS. 12A-12C illustrate a method, in accordance with an exampleembodiment, for monitoring file system data and/or primary data of aclient computing device for potential anomalies in the file system dataand/or primary data on a real-time or near real-time basis.

FIGS. 13A-13C illustrate a method, in accordance with an exampleembodiment, for determining whether file system anomalies exist betweenbackups of a client computing device.

FIGS. 14A-14C illustrate a method, in accordance with an exampleembodiment, for interacting with a graphical user interface thatprovides anomaly detection information for one or more client computingdevices of the information management system of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Detailed descriptions and examples of systems and methods according toone or more illustrative embodiments may be found in the section titled“Detecting Malware and/or Ransomware in Monitored Data,” as well as inthe section titled Example Embodiments, and also in FIGS. 3-14C herein.Furthermore, components and functionality for the disclosed recoverymanager may be configured and/or incorporated into informationmanagement systems such as those described herein in FIGS. 1A-1H and2A-2C.

Various embodiments described herein are intimately tied to, enabled by,and would not exist except for, computer technology. For example, thetransference of backup jobs from the storage manager to the recoverymanager described herein, in reference to various embodiments, cannotreasonably be performed by humans alone, without the computer technologyupon which they are implemented.

Information Management System Overview

With the increasing importance of protecting and leveraging data,organizations simply cannot risk losing critical data. Moreover, runawaydata growth and other modern realities make protecting and managing dataincreasingly difficult. There is therefore a need for efficient,powerful, and user-friendly solutions for protecting and managing dataand for smart and efficient management of data storage. Depending on thesize of the organization, there may be many data production sourceswhich are under the purview of tens, hundreds, or even thousands ofindividuals. In the past, individuals were sometimes responsible formanaging and protecting their own data, and a patchwork of hardware andsoftware point solutions may have been used in any given organization.These solutions were often provided by different vendors and had limitedor no interoperability. Certain embodiments described herein addressthese and other shortcomings of prior approaches by implementingscalable, unified, organization-wide information management, includingdata storage management.

FIG. 1A shows one such information management system 100 (or “system100”), which generally includes combinations of hardware and softwareconfigured to protect and manage data and metadata that are generatedand used by computing devices in system 100. System 100 may be referredto in some embodiments as a “storage management system” or a “datastorage management system.” System 100 performs information managementoperations, some of which may be referred to as “storage operations” or“data storage operations,” to protect and manage the data residing inand/or managed by system 100. The organization that employs system 100may be a corporation or other business entity, non-profit organization,educational institution, household, governmental agency, or the like.

Generally, the systems and associated components described herein may becompatible with and/or provide some or all of the functionality of thesystems and corresponding components described in one or more of thefollowing U.S. patents/publications and patent applications assigned toCommvault Systems, Inc., each of which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety herein:

-   -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,035,880, entitled “Modular Backup and Retrieval        System Used in Conjunction With a Storage Area Network”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,107,298, entitled “System And Method For        Archiving Objects In An Information Store”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,246,207, entitled “System and Method for        Dynamically Performing Storage Operations in a Computer        Network”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,315,923, entitled “System And Method For        Combining Data Streams In Pipelined Storage Operations In A        Storage Network”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453, entitled “Hierarchical Systems and        Methods for Providing a Unified View of Storage Information”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,395,282, entitled “Hierarchical Backup and        Retrieval System”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,529,782, entitled “System and Methods for        Performing a Snapshot and for Restoring Data”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,617,262, entitled “System and Methods for        Monitoring Application Data in a Data Replication System”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,734,669, entitled “Managing Copies Of Data”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,747,579, entitled “Metabase for Facilitating        Data Classification”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,156,086, entitled “Systems And Methods For        Stored Data Verification”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,170,995, entitled “Method and System for Offline        Indexing of Content and Classifying Stored Data”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,230,195, entitled “System And Method For        Performing Auxiliary Storage Operations”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,285,681, entitled “Data Object Store and Server        for a Cloud Storage Environment, Including Data Deduplication        and Data Management Across Multiple Cloud Storage Sites”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,307,177, entitled “Systems And Methods For        Management Of Virtualization Data”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,364,652, entitled “Content-Aligned, Block-Based        Deduplication”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,578,120, entitled “Block-Level Single        Instancing”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,954,446, entitled “Client-Side Repository in a        Networked Deduplicated Storage System”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 9,020,900, entitled “Distributed Deduplicated        Storage System”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 9,098,495, entitled “Application-Aware and Remote        Single Instance Data Management”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 9,239,687, entitled “Systems and Methods for        Retaining and Using Data Block Signatures in Data Protection        Operations”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2006/0224846, entitled “System and Method to        Support Single Instance Storage Operations” (now abandoned);    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2014/0201170, entitled “High Availability        Distributed Deduplicated Storage System”, now U.S. Pat. No.        9,633,033;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2016/0041880 A1, entitled “Efficient        Application Recovery in an Information Management System Based        on a Pseudo-Storage-Device Driver”, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,852,026;    -   U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/721,971, entitled        “Replication Using Deduplicated Secondary Copy Data” (applicant        matter no. 100.422.US1.145; attorney docket no. COMMV.252A),        published as U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2016/0350391;    -   U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/805,615, entitled “Browse        and Restore for Block-Level Backups” (applicant matter no.        100.434.US1.120; attorney docket no. 060692-8141.US00), now U.S.        Pat. No. 9,766,825.    -   U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/265,339 entitled        “Live Synchronization and Management of Virtual Machines across        Computing and Virtualization Platforms and Using Live        Synchronization to Support Disaster Recovery” (applicant docket        no. 100.487.USP1.160; attorney docket no. COMMV.277PR), to which        U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/365,756 claims priority (now        U.S. Pat. No. 10,228,962);    -   U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/273,286 entitled        “Redundant and Robust Distributed Deduplication Data Storage        System” (applicant docket no. 100.489.USP1.135; attorney docket        no. COMMV.279PR), to which U.S. patent application Ser. No.        15/299,254 (now U.S. Pat. No. 10,310,953), Ser. No. 15/299,281        (published as U.S. Pat Pub. 2017-0192868), Ser. No. 15/299,291        (now U.S. Pat. No. 10,138,729), Ser. No. 15/299,298 (now U.S.        Pat. No. 10,592,357), Ser. No. 15/299,299 (published as U.S.        Pat. Pub. US 2017-0193003), and Ser. No. 15/299,280 (now U.S.        Pat. No. 10,061,663) all claim priority;    -   U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/294,920, entitled        “Data Protection Operations Based on Network Path Information”        (applicant docket no. 100.497.USP1.105; attorney docket no.        COMMV.283PR), to which U.S. patent application Ser. No.        15/283,033 claims priority (published as U.S. Pat. Pub. No.        2017/0235647 (now abandoned));    -   U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/297,057, entitled        “Data Restoration Operations Based on Network Path Information”        (applicant docket no. 100.498.USP1.105; attorney docket no.        COMMV.284PR), to which U.S. patent application Ser. No.        15/286,403 claims priority (published as U.S. Pat. Pub. No.        2017/0242871); and    -   U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/387,384, entitled        “Application-Level Live Synchronization Across Computing        Platforms Including Synchronizing Co-Resident Applications To        Disparate Standby Destinations And Selectively Synchronizing        Some Applications And Not Others” (applicant docket no.        100.500.USP1.105; attorney docket no. COMMV.286PR), to which        U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/369,676 claims priority (now        U.S. Pat. No. 10,387,266).

System 100 includes computing devices and computing technologies. Forinstance, system 100 can include one or more client computing devices102 and secondary storage computing devices 106, as well as storagemanager 140 or a host computing device for it. Computing devices caninclude, without limitation, one or more: workstations, personalcomputers, desktop computers, or other types of generally fixedcomputing systems such as mainframe computers, servers, andminicomputers. Other computing devices can include mobile or portablecomputing devices, such as one or more laptops, tablet computers,personal data assistants, mobile phones (such as smartphones), and othermobile or portable computing devices such as embedded computers, set topboxes, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable computers, etc. Servers caninclude mail servers, file servers, database servers, virtual machineservers, and web servers. Any given computing device comprises one ormore processors (e.g., CPU and/or single-core or multi-core processors),as well as corresponding non-transitory computer memory (e.g.,random-access memory (RAM)) for storing computer programs which are tobe executed by the one or more processors. Other computer memory formass storage of data may be packaged/configured with the computingdevice (e.g., an internal hard disk) and/or may be external andaccessible by the computing device (e.g., network-attached storage, astorage array, etc.). In some cases, a computing device includes cloudcomputing resources, which may be implemented as virtual machines. Forinstance, one or more virtual machines may be provided to theorganization by a third-party cloud service vendor.

In some embodiments, computing devices can include one or more virtualmachine(s) running on a physical host computing device (or “hostmachine”) operated by the organization. As one example, the organizationmay use one virtual machine as a database server and another virtualmachine as a mail server, both virtual machines operating on the samehost machine. A Virtual machine (“VM”) is a software implementation of acomputer that does not physically exist and is instead instantiated inan operating system of a physical computer (or host machine) to enableapplications to execute within the VM's environment, i.e., a VM emulatesa physical computer. A VM includes an operating system and associatedvirtual resources, such as computer memory and processor(s). Ahypervisor operates between the VM and the hardware of the physical hostmachine and is generally responsible for creating and running the VMs.Hypervisors are also known in the art as virtual machine monitors or avirtual machine managers or “VMMs”, and may be implemented in software,firmware, and/or specialized hardware installed on the host machine.Examples of hypervisors include ESX Server, by VMware, Inc. of PaloAlto, Calif.; Microsoft Virtual Server and Microsoft Windows ServerHyper-V, both by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.; Sun xVM byOracle America Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif.; and Xen by Citrix Systems,Santa Clara, Calif. The hypervisor provides resources to each virtualoperating system such as a virtual processor, virtual memory, a virtualnetwork device, and a virtual disk. Each virtual machine has one or moreassociated virtual disks. The hypervisor typically stores the data ofvirtual disks in files on the file system of the physical host machine,called virtual machine disk files (“VMDK” in VMware lingo) or virtualhard disk image files (in Microsoft lingo). For example, VMware's ESXServer provides the Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) for the storageof virtual machine disk files. A virtual machine reads data from andwrites data to its virtual disk much the way that a physical machinereads data from and writes data to a physical disk. Examples oftechniques for implementing information management in a cloud computingenvironment are described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,285,681. Examples oftechniques for implementing information management in a virtualizedcomputing environment are described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,307,177.

Information management system 100 can also include electronic datastorage devices, generally used for mass storage of data, including,e.g., primary storage devices 104 and secondary storage devices 108.Storage devices can generally be of any suitable type including, withoutlimitation, disk drives, storage arrays (e.g., storage-area network(SAN) and/or network-attached storage (NAS) technology), semiconductormemory (e.g., solid state storage devices), network attached storage(NAS) devices, tape libraries, or other magnetic, non-tape storagedevices, optical media storage devices, combinations of the same, etc.In some embodiments, storage devices form part of a distributed filesystem. In some cases, storage devices are provided in a cloud storageenvironment (e.g., a private cloud or one operated by a third-partyvendor), whether for primary data or secondary copies or both.

Depending on context, the term “information management system” can referto generally all of the illustrated hardware and software components inFIG. 1C, or the term may refer to only a subset of the illustratedcomponents. For instance, in some cases, system 100 generally refers toa combination of specialized components used to protect, move, manage,manipulate, analyze, and/or process data and metadata generated byclient computing devices 102. However, system 100 in some cases does notinclude the underlying components that generate and/or store primarydata 112, such as the client computing devices 102 themselves, and theprimary storage devices 104. Likewise secondary storage devices 108(e.g., a third-party provided cloud storage environment) may not be partof system 100. As an example, “information management system” or“storage management system” may sometimes refer to one or more of thefollowing components, which will be described in further detail below:storage manager, data agent, and media agent.

One or more client computing devices 102 may be part of system 100, eachclient computing device 102 having an operating system and at least oneapplication 110 and one or more accompanying data agents executingthereon; and associated with one or more primary storage devices 104storing primary data 112. Client computing device(s) 102 and primarystorage devices 104 may generally be referred to in some cases asprimary storage subsystem 117.

Client Computing Devices, Clients, and Subclients

Typically, a variety of sources in an organization produce data to beprotected and managed. As just one illustrative example, in a corporateenvironment such data sources can be employee workstations and companyservers such as a mail server, a web server, a database server, atransaction server, or the like. In system 100, data generation sourcesinclude one or more client computing devices 102. A computing devicethat has a data agent 142 installed and operating on it is generallyreferred to as a “client computing device” 102, and may include any typeof computing device, without limitation. A client computing device 102may be associated with one or more users and/or user accounts.

A “client” is a logical component of information management system 100,which may represent a logical grouping of one or more data agentsinstalled on a client computing device 102. Storage manager 140recognizes a client as a component of system 100, and in someembodiments, may automatically create a client component the first timea data agent 142 is installed on a client computing device 102. Becausedata generated by executable component(s) 110 is tracked by theassociated data agent 142 so that it may be properly protected in system100, a client may be said to generate data and to store the generateddata to primary storage, such as primary storage device 104. However,the terms “client” and “client computing device” as used herein do notimply that a client computing device 102 is necessarily configured inthe client/server sense relative to another computing device such as amail server, or that a client computing device 102 cannot be a server inits own right. As just a few examples, a client computing device 102 canbe and/or include mail servers, file servers, database servers, virtualmachine servers, and/or web servers.

Each client computing device 102 may have application(s) 110 executingthereon which generate and manipulate the data that is to be protectedfrom loss and managed in system 100. Applications 110 generallyfacilitate the operations of an organization, and can include, withoutlimitation, mail server applications (e.g., Microsoft Exchange Server),file system applications, mail client applications (e.g., MicrosoftExchange Client), database applications or database management systems(e.g., SQL, Oracle, SAP, Lotus Notes Database), word processingapplications (e.g., Microsoft Word), spreadsheet applications, financialapplications, presentation applications, graphics and/or videoapplications, browser applications, mobile applications, entertainmentapplications, and so on. Each application 110 may be accompanied by anapplication-specific data agent 142, though not all data agents 142 areapplication-specific or associated with only application. A file managerapplication, e.g., Microsoft Windows Explorer, may be considered anapplication 110 and may be accompanied by its own data agent 142. Clientcomputing devices 102 can have at least one operating system (e.g.,Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, IBM z/OS, Linux, other Unix-basedoperating systems, etc.) installed thereon, which may support or hostone or more file systems and other applications 110. In someembodiments, a virtual machine that executes on a host client computingdevice 102 may be considered an application 110 and may be accompaniedby a specific data agent 142 (e.g., virtual server data agent).

Client computing devices 102 and other components in system 100 can beconnected to one another via one or more electronic communicationpathways 114. For example, a first communication pathway 114 maycommunicatively couple client computing device 102 and secondary storagecomputing device 106; a second communication pathway 114 maycommunicatively couple storage manager 140 and client computing device102; and a third communication pathway 114 may communicatively couplestorage manager 140 and secondary storage computing device 106, etc.(see, e.g., FIG. 1A and FIG. 1C). A communication pathway 114 caninclude one or more networks or other connection types including one ormore of the following, without limitation: the Internet, a wide areanetwork (WAN), a local area network (LAN), a Storage Area Network (SAN),a Fibre Channel (FC) connection, a Small Computer System Interface(SCSI) connection, a virtual private network (VPN), a token ring orTCP/IP based network, an intranet network, a point-to-point link, acellular network, a wireless data transmission system, a two-way cablesystem, an interactive kiosk network, a satellite network, a broadbandnetwork, a baseband network, a neural network, a mesh network, an ad hocnetwork, other appropriate computer or telecommunications networks,combinations of the same or the like. Communication pathways 114 in somecases may also include application programming interfaces (APIs)including, e.g., cloud service provider APIs, virtual machine managementAPIs, and hosted service provider APIs. The underlying infrastructure ofcommunication pathways 114 may be wired and/or wireless, analog and/ordigital, or any combination thereof; and the facilities used may beprivate, public, third-party provided, or any combination thereof,without limitation.

A “subclient” is a logical grouping of all or part of a client's primarydata 112. In general, a subclient may be defined according to how thesubclient data is to be protected as a unit in system 100. For example,a subclient may be associated with a certain storage policy. A givenclient may thus comprise several subclients, each subclient associatedwith a different storage policy. For example, some files may form afirst subclient that requires compression and deduplication and isassociated with a first storage policy. Other files of the client mayform a second subclient that requires a different retention schedule aswell as encryption, and may be associated with a different, secondstorage policy. As a result, though the primary data may be generated bythe same application 110 and may belong to one given client, portions ofthe data may be assigned to different subclients for distinct treatmentby system 100. More detail on subclients is given in regard to storagepolicies below.

Primary Data and Exemplary Primary Storage Devices

Primary data 112 is generally production data or “live” data generatedby the operating system and/or applications 110 executing on clientcomputing device 102. Primary data 112 is generally stored on primarystorage device(s) 104 and is organized via a file system operating onthe client computing device 102. Thus, client computing device(s) 102and corresponding applications 110 may create, access, modify, write,delete, and otherwise use primary data 112. Primary data 112 isgenerally in the native format of the source application 110. Primarydata 112 is an initial or first stored body of data generated by thesource application 110. Primary data 112 in some cases is createdsubstantially directly from data generated by the corresponding sourceapplication 110. It can be useful in performing certain tasks toorganize primary data 112 into units of different granularities. Ingeneral, primary data 112 can include files, directories, file systemvolumes, data blocks, extents, or any other hierarchies or organizationsof data objects. As used herein, a “data object” can refer to (i) anyfile that is currently addressable by a file system or that waspreviously addressable by the file system (e.g., an archive file),and/or to (ii) a subset of such a file (e.g., a data block, an extent,etc.). Primary data 112 may include structured data (e.g., databasefiles), unstructured data (e.g., documents), and/or semi-structureddata. See, e.g., FIG. 1B.

It can also be useful in performing certain functions of system 100 toaccess and modify metadata within primary data 112. Metadata generallyincludes information about data objects and/or characteristicsassociated with the data objects. For simplicity herein, it is to beunderstood that, unless expressly stated otherwise, any reference toprimary data 112 generally also includes its associated metadata, butreferences to metadata generally do not include the primary data.Metadata can include, without limitation, one or more of the following:the data owner (e.g., the client or user that generates the data), thelast modified time (e.g., the time of the most recent modification ofthe data object), a data object name (e.g., a file name), a data objectsize (e.g., a number of bytes of data), information about the content(e.g., an indication as to the existence of a particular search term),user-supplied tags, to/from information for email (e.g., an emailsender, recipient, etc.), creation date, file type (e.g., format orapplication type), last accessed time, application type (e.g., type ofapplication that generated the data object), location/network (e.g., acurrent, past or future location of the data object and network pathwaysto/from the data object), geographic location (e.g., GPS coordinates),frequency of change (e.g., a period in which the data object ismodified), business unit (e.g., a group or department that generates,manages or is otherwise associated with the data object), aginginformation (e.g., a schedule, such as a time period, in which the dataobject is migrated to secondary or long term storage), boot sectors,partition layouts, file location within a file folder directorystructure, user permissions, owners, groups, access control lists(ACLs), system metadata (e.g., registry information), combinations ofthe same or other similar information related to the data object. Inaddition to metadata generated by or related to file systems andoperating systems, some applications 110 and/or other components ofsystem 100 maintain indices of metadata for data objects, e.g., metadataassociated with individual email messages. The use of metadata toperform classification and other functions is described in greaterdetail below.

Primary storage devices 104 storing primary data 112 may be relativelyfast and/or expensive technology (e.g., flash storage, a disk drive, ahard-disk storage array, solid state memory, etc.), typically to supporthigh-performance live production environments. Primary data 112 may behighly changeable and/or may be intended for relatively short termretention (e.g., hours, days, or weeks). According to some embodiments,client computing device 102 can access primary data 112 stored inprimary storage device 104 by making conventional file system calls viathe operating system. Each client computing device 102 is generallyassociated with and/or in communication with one or more primary storagedevices 104 storing corresponding primary data 112. A client computingdevice 102 is said to be associated with or in communication with aparticular primary storage device 104 if it is capable of one or moreof: routing and/or storing data (e.g., primary data 112) to the primarystorage device 104, coordinating the routing and/or storing of data tothe primary storage device 104, retrieving data from the primary storagedevice 104, coordinating the retrieval of data from the primary storagedevice 104, and modifying and/or deleting data in the primary storagedevice 104. Thus, a client computing device 102 may be said to accessdata stored in an associated storage device 104.

Primary storage device 104 may be dedicated or shared. In some cases,each primary storage device 104 is dedicated to an associated clientcomputing device 102, e.g., a local disk drive. In other cases, one ormore primary storage devices 104 can be shared by multiple clientcomputing devices 102, e.g., via a local network, in a cloud storageimplementation, etc. As one example, primary storage device 104 can be astorage array shared by a group of client computing devices 102, such asEMC Clariion, EMC Symmetrix, EMC Celerra, Dell EqualLogic, IBM XIV,NetApp FAS, HP EVA, and HP 3PAR.

System 100 may also include hosted services (not shown), which may behosted in some cases by an entity other than the organization thatemploys the other components of system 100. For instance, the hostedservices may be provided by online service providers. Such serviceproviders can provide social networking services, hosted email services,or hosted productivity applications or other hosted applications such assoftware-as-a-service (SaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), applicationservice providers (ASPs), cloud services, or other mechanisms fordelivering functionality via a network. As it services users, eachhosted service may generate additional data and metadata, which may bemanaged by system 100, e.g., as primary data 112. In some cases, thehosted services may be accessed using one of the applications 110. As anexample, a hosted mail service may be accessed via browser running on aclient computing device 102.

Secondary Copies and Exemplary Secondary Storage Devices

Primary data 112 stored on primary storage devices 104 may becompromised in some cases, such as when an employee deliberately oraccidentally deletes or overwrites primary data 112. Or primary storagedevices 104 can be damaged, lost, or otherwise corrupted. For recoveryand/or regulatory compliance purposes, it is therefore useful togenerate and maintain copies of primary data 112. Accordingly, system100 includes one or more secondary storage computing devices 106 and oneor more secondary storage devices 108 configured to create and store oneor more secondary copies 116 of primary data 112 including itsassociated metadata. The secondary storage computing devices 106 and thesecondary storage devices 108 may be referred to as secondary storagesubsystem 118.

Secondary copies 116 can help in search and analysis efforts and meetother information management goals as well, such as: restoring dataand/or metadata if an original version is lost (e.g., by deletion,corruption, or disaster); allowing point-in-time recovery; complyingwith regulatory data retention and electronic discovery (e-discovery)requirements; reducing utilized storage capacity in the productionsystem and/or in secondary storage; facilitating organization and searchof data; improving user access to data files across multiple computingdevices and/or hosted services; and implementing data retention andpruning policies.

A secondary copy 116 can comprise a separate stored copy of data that isderived from one or more earlier-created stored copies (e.g., derivedfrom primary data 112 or from another secondary copy 116). Secondarycopies 116 can include point-in-time data, and may be intended forrelatively long-term retention before some or all of the data is movedto other storage or discarded. In some cases, a secondary copy 116 maybe in a different storage device than other previously stored copies;and/or may be remote from other previously stored copies. Secondarycopies 116 can be stored in the same storage device as primary data 112.For example, a disk array capable of performing hardware snapshotsstores primary data 112 and creates and stores hardware snapshots of theprimary data 112 as secondary copies 116. Secondary copies 116 may bestored in relatively slow and/or lower cost storage (e.g., magnetictape). A secondary copy 116 may be stored in a backup or archive format,or in some other format different from the native source applicationformat or other format of primary data 112.

Secondary storage computing devices 106 may index secondary copies 116(e.g., using a media agent 144), enabling users to browse and restore ata later time and further enabling the lifecycle management of theindexed data. After creation of a secondary copy 116 that representscertain primary data 112, a pointer or other location indicia (e.g., astub) may be placed in primary data 112, or be otherwise associated withprimary data 112, to indicate the current location of a particularsecondary copy 116. Since an instance of a data object or metadata inprimary data 112 may change over time as it is modified by application110 (or hosted service or the operating system), system 100 may createand manage multiple secondary copies 116 of a particular data object ormetadata, each copy representing the state of the data object in primarydata 112 at a particular point in time. Moreover, since an instance of adata object in primary data 112 may eventually be deleted from primarystorage device 104 and the file system, system 100 may continue tomanage point-in-time representations of that data object, even thoughthe instance in primary data 112 no longer exists. For virtual machines,the operating system and other applications 110 of client computingdevice(s) 102 may execute within or under the management ofvirtualization software (e.g., a VMM), and the primary storage device(s)104 may comprise a virtual disk created on a physical storage device.System 100 may create secondary copies 116 of the files or other dataobjects in a virtual disk file and/or secondary copies 116 of the entirevirtual disk file itself (e.g., of an entire .vmdk file).

Secondary copies 116 are distinguishable from corresponding primary data112. First, secondary copies 116 can be stored in a different formatfrom primary data 112 (e.g., backup, archive, or other non-nativeformat). For this or other reasons, secondary copies 116 may not bedirectly usable by applications 110 or client computing device 102(e.g., via standard system calls or otherwise) without modification,processing, or other intervention by system 100 which may be referred toas “restore” operations. Secondary copies 116 may have been processed bydata agent 142 and/or media agent 144 in the course of being created(e.g., compression, deduplication, encryption, integrity markers,indexing, formatting, application-aware metadata, etc.), and thussecondary copy 116 may represent source primary data 112 withoutnecessarily being exactly identical to the source.

Second, secondary copies 116 may be stored on a secondary storage device108 that is inaccessible to application 110 running on client computingdevice 102 and/or hosted service. Some secondary copies 116 may be“offline copies,” in that they are not readily available (e.g., notmounted to tape or disk). Offline copies can include copies of data thatsystem 100 can access without human intervention (e.g., tapes within anautomated tape library, but not yet mounted in a drive), and copies thatthe system 100 can access only with some human intervention (e.g., tapeslocated at an offsite storage site).

Using Intermediate Devices for Creating Secondary Copies—SecondaryStorage Computing Devices

Creating secondary copies can be challenging when hundreds or thousandsof client computing devices 102 continually generate large volumes ofprimary data 112 to be protected. Also, there can be significantoverhead involved in the creation of secondary copies 116. Moreover,specialized programmed intelligence and/or hardware capability isgenerally needed for accessing and interacting with secondary storagedevices 108. Client computing devices 102 may interact directly with asecondary storage device 108 to create secondary copies 116, but in viewof the factors described above, this approach can negatively impact theability of client computing device 102 to serve/service application 110and produce primary data 112. Further, any given client computing device102 may not be optimized for interaction with certain secondary storagedevices 108.

Thus, system 100 may include one or more software and/or hardwarecomponents which generally act as intermediaries between clientcomputing devices 102 (that generate primary data 112) and secondarystorage devices 108 (that store secondary copies 116). In addition tooff-loading certain responsibilities from client computing devices 102,these intermediate components provide other benefits. For instance, asdiscussed further below with respect to FIG. 1D, distributing some ofthe work involved in creating secondary copies 116 can enhancescalability and improve system performance. For instance, usingspecialized secondary storage computing devices 106 and media agents 144for interfacing with secondary storage devices 108 and/or for performingcertain data processing operations can greatly improve the speed withwhich system 100 performs information management operations and can alsoimprove the capacity of the system to handle large numbers of suchoperations, while reducing the computational load on the productionenvironment of client computing devices 102. The intermediate componentscan include one or more secondary storage computing devices 106 as shownin FIG. 1A and/or one or more media agents 144. Media agents arediscussed further below (e.g., with respect to FIGS. 1C-1E). Thesespecial-purpose components of system 100 comprise specialized programmedintelligence and/or hardware capability for writing to, reading from,instructing, communicating with, or otherwise interacting with secondarystorage devices 108.

Secondary storage computing device(s) 106 can comprise any of thecomputing devices described above, without limitation. In some cases,secondary storage computing device(s) 106 also include specializedhardware componentry and/or software intelligence (e.g., specializedinterfaces) for interacting with certain secondary storage device(s) 108with which they may be specially associated.

To create a secondary copy 116 involving the copying of data fromprimary storage subsystem 117 to secondary storage subsystem 118, clientcomputing device 102 may communicate the primary data 112 to be copied(or a processed version thereof generated by a data agent 142) to thedesignated secondary storage computing device 106, via a communicationpathway 114. Secondary storage computing device 106 in turn may furtherprocess and convey the data or a processed version thereof to secondarystorage device 108. One or more secondary copies 116 may be created fromexisting secondary copies 116, such as in the case of an auxiliary copyoperation, described further below.

Exemplary Primary Data and an Exemplary Secondary Copy

FIG. 1B is a detailed view of some specific examples of primary datastored on primary storage device(s) 104 and secondary copy data storedon secondary storage device(s) 108, with other components of the systemremoved for the purposes of illustration. Stored on primary storagedevice(s) 104 are primary data 112 objects including word processingdocuments 119A-B, spreadsheets 120, presentation documents 122, videofiles 124, image files 126, email mailboxes 128 (and corresponding emailmessages 129A-C), HTML/XML or other types of markup language files 130,databases 132 and corresponding tables or other data structures133A-133C. Some or all primary data 112 objects are associated withcorresponding metadata (e.g., “Meta1-11”), which may include file systemmetadata and/or application-specific metadata. Stored on the secondarystorage device(s) 108 are secondary copy 116 data objects 134A-C whichmay include copies of or may otherwise represent corresponding primarydata 112.

Secondary copy data objects 134A-C can individually represent more thanone primary data object. For example, secondary copy data object 134Arepresents three separate primary data objects 133C, 122, and 129C(represented as 133C′, 122′, and 129C′, respectively, and accompanied bycorresponding metadata Meta11, Meta3, and Meta8, respectively).Moreover, as indicated by the prime mark (′), secondary storagecomputing devices 106 or other components in secondary storage subsystem118 may process the data received from primary storage subsystem 117 andstore a secondary copy including a transformed and/or supplementedrepresentation of a primary data object and/or metadata that isdifferent from the original format, e.g., in a compressed, encrypted,deduplicated, or other modified format. For instance, secondary storagecomputing devices 106 can generate new metadata or other informationbased on said processing, and store the newly generated informationalong with the secondary copies. Secondary copy data object 134Brepresents primary data objects 120, 133B, and 119A as 120′, 133B′, and119A′, respectively, accompanied by corresponding metadata Meta2,Meta10, and Meta1, respectively. Also, secondary copy data object 134Crepresents primary data objects 133A, 119B, and 129A as 133A′, 119B′,and 129A′, respectively, accompanied by corresponding metadata Meta9,Meta5, and Meta6, respectively.

Exemplary Information Management System Architecture

System 100 can incorporate a variety of different hardware and softwarecomponents, which can in turn be organized with respect to one anotherin many different configurations, depending on the embodiment. There arecritical design choices involved in specifying the functionalresponsibilities of the components and the role of each component insystem 100. Such design choices can impact how system 100 performs andadapts to data growth and other changing circumstances. FIG. 1C shows asystem 100 designed according to these considerations and includes:storage manager 140, one or more data agents 142 executing on clientcomputing device(s) 102 and configured to process primary data 112, andone or more media agents 144 executing on one or more secondary storagecomputing devices 106 for performing tasks involving secondary storagedevices 108.

Storage Manager

Storage manager 140 is a centralized storage and/or information managerthat is configured to perform certain control functions and also tostore certain critical information about system 100—hence storagemanager 140 is said to manage system 100. As noted, the number ofcomponents in system 100 and the amount of data under management can belarge. Managing the components and data is therefore a significant task,which can grow unpredictably as the number of components and data scaleto meet the needs of the organization. For these and other reasons,according to certain embodiments, responsibility for controlling system100, or at least a significant portion of that responsibility, isallocated to storage manager 140. Storage manager 140 can be adaptedindependently according to changing circumstances, without having toreplace or re-design the remainder of the system. Moreover, a computingdevice for hosting and/or operating as storage manager 140 can beselected to best suit the functions and networking needs of storagemanager 140. These and other advantages are described in further detailbelow and with respect to FIG. 1D.

Storage manager 140 may be a software module or other application hostedby a suitable computing device. In some embodiments, storage manager 140is itself a computing device that performs the functions describedherein. Storage manager 140 comprises or operates in conjunction withone or more associated data structures such as a dedicated database(e.g., management database 146), depending on the configuration. Thestorage manager 140 generally initiates, performs, coordinates, and/orcontrols storage and other information management operations performedby system 100, e.g., to protect and control primary data 112 andsecondary copies 116. In general, storage manager 140 is said to managesystem 100, which includes communicating with, instructing, andcontrolling in some circumstances components such as data agents 142 andmedia agents 144, etc.

As shown by the dashed arrowed lines 114 in FIG. 1C, storage manager 140may communicate with, instruct, and/or control some or all elements ofsystem 100, such as data agents 142 and media agents 144. In thismanner, storage manager 140 manages the operation of various hardwareand software components in system 100. In certain embodiments, controlinformation originates from storage manager 140 and status as well asindex reporting is transmitted to storage manager 140 by the managedcomponents, whereas payload data and metadata are generally communicatedbetween data agents 142 and media agents 144 (or otherwise betweenclient computing device(s) 102 and secondary storage computing device(s)106), e.g., at the direction of and under the management of storagemanager 140. Control information can generally include parameters andinstructions for carrying out information management operations, suchas, without limitation, instructions to perform a task associated withan operation, timing information specifying when to initiate a task,data path information specifying what components to communicate with oraccess in carrying out an operation, and the like. In other embodiments,some information management operations are controlled or initiated byother components of system 100 (e.g., by media agents 144 or data agents142), instead of or in combination with storage manager 140.

According to certain embodiments, storage manager 140 provides one ormore of the following functions:

-   -   communicating with data agents 142 and media agents 144,        including transmitting instructions, messages, and/or queries,        as well as receiving status reports, index information,        messages, and/or queries, and responding to same;    -   initiating execution of information management operations;    -   initiating restore and recovery operations;    -   managing secondary storage devices 108 and inventory/capacity of        the same;    -   allocating secondary storage devices 108 for secondary copy        operations;    -   reporting, searching, and/or classification of data in system        100;    -   monitoring completion of and status reporting related to        information management operations and jobs;    -   tracking movement of data within system 100;    -   tracking age information relating to secondary copies 116,        secondary storage devices 108, comparing the age information        against retention guidelines, and initiating data pruning when        appropriate;    -   tracking logical associations between components in system 100;    -   protecting metadata associated with system 100, e.g., in        management database 146;    -   implementing job management, schedule management, event        management, alert management, reporting, job history        maintenance, user security management, disaster recovery        management, and/or user interfacing for system administrators        and/or end users of system 100;    -   sending, searching, and/or viewing of log files; and    -   implementing operations management functionality.

Storage manager 140 may maintain an associated database 146 (or “storagemanager database 146” or “management database 146”) ofmanagement-related data and information management policies 148.Database 146 is stored in computer memory accessible by storage manager140. Database 146 may include a management index 150 (or “index 150”) orother data structure(s) that may store: logical associations betweencomponents of the system; user preferences and/or profiles (e.g.,preferences regarding encryption, compression, or deduplication ofprimary data or secondary copies; preferences regarding the scheduling,type, or other aspects of secondary copy or other operations; mappingsof particular information management users or user accounts to certaincomputing devices or other components, etc.; management tasks; mediacontainerization; other useful data; and/or any combination thereof. Forexample, storage manager 140 may use index 150 to track logicalassociations between media agents 144 and secondary storage devices 108and/or movement of data to/from secondary storage devices 108. Forinstance, index 150 may store data associating a client computing device102 with a particular media agent 144 and/or secondary storage device108, as specified in an information management policy 148.

Administrators and others may configure and initiate certain informationmanagement operations on an individual basis. But while this may beacceptable for some recovery operations or other infrequent tasks, it isoften not workable for implementing on-going organization-wide dataprotection and management. Thus, system 100 may utilize informationmanagement policies 148 for specifying and executing informationmanagement operations on an automated basis. Generally, an informationmanagement policy 148 can include a stored data structure or otherinformation source that specifies parameters (e.g., criteria and rules)associated with storage management or other information managementoperations. Storage manager 140 can process an information managementpolicy 148 and/or index 150 and, based on the results, identify aninformation management operation to perform, identify the appropriatecomponents in system 100 to be involved in the operation (e.g., clientcomputing devices 102 and corresponding data agents 142, secondarystorage computing devices 106 and corresponding media agents 144, etc.),establish connections to those components and/or between thosecomponents, and/or instruct and control those components to carry outthe operation. In this manner, system 100 can translate storedinformation into coordinated activity among the various computingdevices in system 100.

Management database 146 may maintain information management policies 148and associated data, although information management policies 148 can bestored in computer memory at any appropriate location outside managementdatabase 146. For instance, an information management policy 148 such asa storage policy may be stored as metadata in a media agent database 152or in a secondary storage device 108 (e.g., as an archive copy) for usein restore or other information management operations, depending on theembodiment. Information management policies 148 are described furtherbelow. According to certain embodiments, management database 146comprises a relational database (e.g., an SQL database) for trackingmetadata, such as metadata associated with secondary copy operations(e.g., what client computing devices 102 and corresponding subclientdata were protected and where the secondary copies are stored and whichmedia agent 144 performed the storage operation(s)). This and othermetadata may additionally be stored in other locations, such as atsecondary storage computing device 106 or on the secondary storagedevice 108, allowing data recovery without the use of storage manager140 in some cases. Thus, management database 146 may comprise dataneeded to kick off secondary copy operations (e.g., storage policies,schedule policies, etc.), status and reporting information aboutcompleted jobs (e.g., status and error reports on yesterday's backupjobs), and additional information sufficient to enable restore anddisaster recovery operations (e.g., media agent associations, locationindexing, content indexing, etc.).

Storage manager 140 may include a jobs agent 156, a user interface 158,and a management agent 154, all of which may be implemented asinterconnected software modules or application programs. These aredescribed further below.

Jobs agent 156 in some embodiments initiates, controls, and/or monitorsthe status of some or all information management operations previouslyperformed, currently being performed, or scheduled to be performed bysystem 100. A job is a logical grouping of information managementoperations such as daily storage operations scheduled for a certain setof subclients (e.g., generating incremental block-level backup copies116 at a certain time every day for database files in a certaingeographical location). Thus, jobs agent 156 may access informationmanagement policies 148 (e.g., in management database 146) to determinewhen, where, and how to initiate/control jobs in system 100.

Storage Manager User Interfaces

User interface 158 may include information processing and displaysoftware, such as a graphical user interface (GUI), an applicationprogram interface (API), and/or other interactive interface(s) throughwhich users and system processes can retrieve information about thestatus of information management operations or issue instructions tostorage manager 140 and other components. Via user interface 158, usersmay issue instructions to the components in system 100 regardingperformance of secondary copy and recovery operations. For example, auser may modify a schedule concerning the number of pending secondarycopy operations. As another example, a user may employ the GUI to viewthe status of pending secondary copy jobs or to monitor the status ofcertain components in system 100 (e.g., the amount of capacity left in astorage device). Storage manager 140 may track information that permitsit to select, designate, or otherwise identify content indices,deduplication databases, or similar databases or resources or data setswithin its information management cell (or another cell) to be searchedin response to certain queries. Such queries may be entered by the userby interacting with user interface 158.

Various embodiments of information management system 100 may beconfigured and/or designed to generate user interface data usable forrendering the various interactive user interfaces described. The userinterface data may be used by system 100 and/or by another system,device, and/or software program (for example, a browser program), torender the interactive user interfaces. The interactive user interfacesmay be displayed on, for example, electronic displays (including, forexample, touch-enabled displays), consoles, etc., whetherdirect-connected to storage manager 140 or communicatively coupledremotely, e.g., via an internet connection. The present disclosuredescribes various embodiments of interactive and dynamic userinterfaces, some of which may be generated by user interface agent 158,and which are the result of significant technological development. Theuser interfaces described herein may provide improved human-computerinteractions, allowing for significant cognitive and ergonomicefficiencies and advantages over previous systems, including reducedmental workloads, improved decision-making, and the like. User interface158 may operate in a single integrated view or console (not shown). Theconsole may support a reporting capability for generating a variety ofreports, which may be tailored to a particular aspect of informationmanagement.

User interfaces are not exclusive to storage manager 140 and in someembodiments a user may access information locally from a computingdevice component of system 100. For example, some information pertainingto installed data agents 142 and associated data streams may beavailable from client computing device 102. Likewise, some informationpertaining to media agents 144 and associated data streams may beavailable from secondary storage computing device 106.

Storage Manager Management Agent

Management agent 154 can provide storage manager 140 with the ability tocommunicate with other components within system 100 and/or with otherinformation management cells via network protocols and applicationprogramming interfaces (APIs) including, e.g., HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, REST,virtualization software APIs, cloud service provider APIs, and hostedservice provider APIs, without limitation. Management agent 154 alsoallows multiple information management cells to communicate with oneanother. For example, system 100 in some cases may be one informationmanagement cell in a network of multiple cells adjacent to one anotheror otherwise logically related, e.g., in a WAN or LAN. With thisarrangement, the cells may communicate with one another throughrespective management agents 154. Inter-cell communications andhierarchy is described in greater detail in e.g., U.S. Pat. No.7,343,453.

Information Management Cell

An “information management cell” (or “storage operation cell” or “cell”)may generally include a logical and/or physical grouping of acombination of hardware and software components associated withperforming information management operations on electronic data,typically one storage manager 140 and at least one data agent 142(executing on a client computing device 102) and at least one mediaagent 144 (executing on a secondary storage computing device 106). Forinstance, the components shown in FIG. 1C may together form aninformation management cell. Thus, in some configurations, a system 100may be referred to as an information management cell or a storageoperation cell. A given cell may be identified by the identity of itsstorage manager 140, which is generally responsible for managing thecell.

Multiple cells may be organized hierarchically, so that cells mayinherit properties from hierarchically superior cells or be controlledby other cells in the hierarchy (automatically or otherwise).Alternatively, in some embodiments, cells may inherit or otherwise beassociated with information management policies, preferences,information management operational parameters, or other properties orcharacteristics according to their relative position in a hierarchy ofcells. Cells may also be organized hierarchically according to function,geography, architectural considerations, or other factors useful ordesirable in performing information management operations. For example,a first cell may represent a geographic segment of an enterprise, suchas a Chicago office, and a second cell may represent a differentgeographic segment, such as a New York City office. Other cells mayrepresent departments within a particular office, e.g., human resources,finance, engineering, etc. Where delineated by function, a first cellmay perform one or more first types of information management operations(e.g., one or more first types of secondary copies at a certainfrequency), and a second cell may perform one or more second types ofinformation management operations (e.g., one or more second types ofsecondary copies at a different frequency and under different retentionrules). In general, the hierarchical information is maintained by one ormore storage managers 140 that manage the respective cells (e.g., incorresponding management database(s) 146).

Data Agents

A variety of different applications 110 can operate on a given clientcomputing device 102, including operating systems, file systems,database applications, e-mail applications, and virtual machines, justto name a few. And, as part of the process of creating and restoringsecondary copies 116, the client computing device 102 may be tasked withprocessing and preparing the primary data 112 generated by these variousapplications 110. Moreover, the nature of the processing/preparation candiffer across application types, e.g., due to inherent structural,state, and formatting differences among applications 110 and/or theoperating system of client computing device 102. Each data agent 142 istherefore advantageously configured in some embodiments to assist in theperformance of information management operations based on the type ofdata that is being protected at a client-specific and/orapplication-specific level.

Data agent 142 is a component of information system 100 and is generallydirected by storage manager 140 to participate in creating or restoringsecondary copies 116. Data agent 142 may be a software program (e.g., inthe form of a set of executable binary files) that executes on the sameclient computing device 102 as the associated application 110 that dataagent 142 is configured to protect. Data agent 142 is generallyresponsible for managing, initiating, or otherwise assisting in theperformance of information management operations in reference to itsassociated application(s) 110 and corresponding primary data 112 whichis generated/accessed by the particular application(s) 110. Forinstance, data agent 142 may take part in copying, archiving, migrating,and/or replicating of certain primary data 112 stored in the primarystorage device(s) 104. Data agent 142 may receive control informationfrom storage manager 140, such as commands to transfer copies of dataobjects and/or metadata to one or more media agents 144. Data agent 142also may compress, deduplicate, and encrypt certain primary data 112, aswell as capture application-related metadata before transmitting theprocessed data to media agent 144. Data agent 142 also may receiveinstructions from storage manager 140 to restore (or assist inrestoring) a secondary copy 116 from secondary storage device 108 toprimary storage 104, such that the restored data may be properlyaccessed by application 110 in a suitable format as though it wereprimary data 112.

Each data agent 142 may be specialized for a particular application 110.For instance, different individual data agents 142 may be designed tohandle Microsoft Exchange data, Lotus Notes data, Microsoft Windows filesystem data, Microsoft Active Directory Objects data, SQL Server data,Share Point data, Oracle database data, SAP database data, virtualmachines and/or associated data, and other types of data. A file systemdata agent, for example, may handle data files and/or other file systeminformation. If a client computing device 102 has two or more types ofdata 112, a specialized data agent 142 may be used for each data type.For example, to backup, migrate, and/or restore all of the data on aMicrosoft Exchange server, the client computing device 102 may use: (1)a Microsoft Exchange Mailbox data agent 142 to back up the Exchangemailboxes; (2) a Microsoft Exchange Database data agent 142 to back upthe Exchange databases; (3) a Microsoft Exchange Public Folder dataagent 142 to back up the Exchange Public Folders; and (4) a MicrosoftWindows File System data agent 142 to back up the file system of clientcomputing device 102. In this example, these specialized data agents 142are treated as four separate data agents 142 even though they operate onthe same client computing device 102. Other examples may include archivemanagement data agents such as a migration archiver or a compliancearchiver, Quick Recovery® agents, and continuous data replicationagents. Application-specific data agents 142 can provide improvedperformance as compared to generic agents. For instance, becauseapplication-specific data agents 142 may only handle data for a singlesoftware application, the design, operation, and performance of the dataagent 142 can be streamlined. The data agent 142 may therefore executefaster and consume less persistent storage and/or operating memory thandata agents designed to generically accommodate multiple differentsoftware applications 110.

Each data agent 142 may be configured to access data and/or metadatastored in the primary storage device(s) 104 associated with data agent142 and its host client computing device 102, and process the dataappropriately. For example, during a secondary copy operation, dataagent 142 may arrange or assemble the data and metadata into one or morefiles having a certain format (e.g., a particular backup or archiveformat) before transferring the file(s) to a media agent 144 or othercomponent. The file(s) may include a list of files or other metadata. Insome embodiments, a data agent 142 may be distributed between clientcomputing device 102 and storage manager 140 (and any other intermediatecomponents) or may be deployed from a remote location or its functionsapproximated by a remote process that performs some or all of thefunctions of data agent 142. In addition, a data agent 142 may performsome functions provided by media agent 144. Other embodiments may employone or more generic data agents 142 that can handle and process datafrom two or more different applications 110, or that can handle andprocess multiple data types, instead of or in addition to usingspecialized data agents 142. For example, one generic data agent 142 maybe used to back up, migrate and restore Microsoft Exchange Mailbox dataand Microsoft Exchange Database data, while another generic data agentmay handle Microsoft Exchange Public Folder data and Microsoft WindowsFile System data.

Media Agents

As noted, off-loading certain responsibilities from client computingdevices 102 to intermediate components such as secondary storagecomputing device(s) 106 and corresponding media agent(s) 144 can providea number of benefits including improved performance of client computingdevice 102, faster and more reliable information management operations,and enhanced scalability. In one example which will be discussed furtherbelow, media agent 144 can act as a local cache of recently-copied dataand/or metadata stored to secondary storage device(s) 108, thusimproving restore capabilities and performance for the cached data.

Media agent 144 is a component of system 100 and is generally directedby storage manager 140 in creating and restoring secondary copies 116.Whereas storage manager 140 generally manages system 100 as a whole,media agent 144 provides a portal to certain secondary storage devices108, such as by having specialized features for communicating with andaccessing certain associated secondary storage device 108. Media agent144 may be a software program (e.g., in the form of a set of executablebinary files) that executes on a secondary storage computing device 106.Media agent 144 generally manages, coordinates, and facilitates thetransmission of data between a data agent 142 (executing on clientcomputing device 102) and secondary storage device(s) 108 associatedwith media agent 144. For instance, other components in the system mayinteract with media agent 144 to gain access to data stored onassociated secondary storage device(s) 108, (e.g., to browse, read,write, modify, delete, or restore data). Moreover, media agents 144 cangenerate and store information relating to characteristics of the storeddata and/or metadata, or can generate and store other types ofinformation that generally provides insight into the contents of thesecondary storage devices 108—generally referred to as indexing of thestored secondary copies 116. Each media agent 144 may operate on adedicated secondary storage computing device 106, while in otherembodiments a plurality of media agents 144 may operate on the samesecondary storage computing device 106.

A media agent 144 may be associated with a particular secondary storagedevice 108 if that media agent 144 is capable of one or more of: routingand/or storing data to the particular secondary storage device 108;coordinating the routing and/or storing of data to the particularsecondary storage device 108; retrieving data from the particularsecondary storage device 108; coordinating the retrieval of data fromthe particular secondary storage device 108; and modifying and/ordeleting data retrieved from the particular secondary storage device108. Media agent 144 in certain embodiments is physically separate fromthe associated secondary storage device 108. For instance, a media agent144 may operate on a secondary storage computing device 106 in adistinct housing, package, and/or location from the associated secondarystorage device 108. In one example, a media agent 144 operates on afirst server computer and is in communication with a secondary storagedevice(s) 108 operating in a separate rack-mounted RAID-based system.

A media agent 144 associated with a particular secondary storage device108 may instruct secondary storage device 108 to perform an informationmanagement task. For instance, a media agent 144 may instruct a tapelibrary to use a robotic arm or other retrieval means to load or eject acertain storage media, and to subsequently archive, migrate, or retrievedata to or from that media, e.g., for the purpose of restoring data to aclient computing device 102. As another example, a secondary storagedevice 108 may include an array of hard disk drives or solid statedrives organized in a RAID configuration, and media agent 144 mayforward a logical unit number (LUN) and other appropriate information tothe array, which uses the received information to execute the desiredsecondary copy operation. Media agent 144 may communicate with asecondary storage device 108 via a suitable communications link, such asa SCSI or Fibre Channel link.

Each media agent 144 may maintain an associated media agent database152. Media agent database 152 may be stored to a disk or other storagedevice (not shown) that is local to the secondary storage computingdevice 106 on which media agent 144 executes. In other cases, mediaagent database 152 is stored separately from the host secondary storagecomputing device 106. Media agent database 152 can include, among otherthings, a media agent index 153 (see, e.g., FIG. 1C). In some cases,media agent index 153 does not form a part of and is instead separatefrom media agent database 152.

Media agent index 153 (or “index 153”) may be a data structureassociated with the particular media agent 144 that includes informationabout the stored data associated with the particular media agent andwhich may be generated in the course of performing a secondary copyoperation or a restore. Index 153 provides a fast and efficientmechanism for locating/browsing secondary copies 116 or other datastored in secondary storage devices 108 without having to accesssecondary storage device 108 to retrieve the information from there. Forinstance, for each secondary copy 116, index 153 may include metadatasuch as a list of the data objects (e.g., files/subdirectories, databaseobjects, mailbox objects, etc.), a logical path to the secondary copy116 on the corresponding secondary storage device 108, locationinformation (e.g., offsets) indicating where the data objects are storedin the secondary storage device 108, when the data objects were createdor modified, etc. Thus, index 153 includes metadata associated with thesecondary copies 116 that is readily available for use from media agent144. In some embodiments, some or all of the information in index 153may instead or additionally be stored along with secondary copies 116 insecondary storage device 108. In some embodiments, a secondary storagedevice 108 can include sufficient information to enable a “bare metalrestore,” where the operating system and/or software applications of afailed client computing device 102 or another target may beautomatically restored without manually reinstalling individual softwarepackages (including operating systems).

Because index 153 may operate as a cache, it can also be referred to asan “index cache.” In such cases, information stored in index cache 153typically comprises data that reflects certain particulars aboutrelatively recent secondary copy operations. After some triggeringevent, such as after some time elapses or index cache 153 reaches aparticular size, certain portions of index cache 153 may be copied ormigrated to secondary storage device 108, e.g., on a least-recently-usedbasis. This information may be retrieved and uploaded back into indexcache 153 or otherwise restored to media agent 144 to facilitateretrieval of data from the secondary storage device(s) 108. In someembodiments, the cached information may include format orcontainerization information related to archives or other files storedon storage device(s) 108.

In some alternative embodiments media agent 144 generally acts as acoordinator or facilitator of secondary copy operations between clientcomputing devices 102 and secondary storage devices 108, but does notactually write the data to secondary storage device 108. For instance,storage manager 140 (or media agent 144) may instruct a client computingdevice 102 and secondary storage device 108 to communicate with oneanother directly. In such a case, client computing device 102 transmitsdata directly or via one or more intermediary components to secondarystorage device 108 according to the received instructions, and viceversa. Media agent 144 may still receive, process, and/or maintainmetadata related to the secondary copy operations, i.e., may continue tobuild and maintain index 153. In these embodiments, payload data canflow through media agent 144 for the purposes of populating index 153,but not for writing to secondary storage device 108. Media agent 144and/or other components such as storage manager 140 may in some casesincorporate additional functionality, such as data classification,content indexing, deduplication, encryption, compression, and the like.Further details regarding these and other functions are described below.

Distributed, Scalable Architecture

As described, certain functions of system 100 can be distributed amongstvarious physical and/or logical components. For instance, one or more ofstorage manager 140, data agents 142, and media agents 144 may operateon computing devices that are physically separate from one another. Thisarchitecture can provide a number of benefits. For instance, hardwareand software design choices for each distributed component can betargeted to suit its particular function. The secondary computingdevices 106 on which media agents 144 operate can be tailored forinteraction with associated secondary storage devices 108 and providefast index cache operation, among other specific tasks. Similarly,client computing device(s) 102 can be selected to effectively serviceapplications 110 in order to efficiently produce and store primary data112.

Moreover, in some cases, one or more of the individual components ofinformation management system 100 can be distributed to multipleseparate computing devices. As one example, for large file systems wherethe amount of data stored in management database 146 is relativelylarge, database 146 may be migrated to or may otherwise reside on aspecialized database server (e.g., an SQL server) separate from a serverthat implements the other functions of storage manager 140. Thisdistributed configuration can provide added protection because database146 can be protected with standard database utilities (e.g., SQL logshipping or database replication) independent from other functions ofstorage manager 140. Database 146 can be efficiently replicated to aremote site for use in the event of a disaster or other data loss at theprimary site. Or database 146 can be replicated to another computingdevice within the same site, such as to a higher performance machine inthe event that a storage manager host computing device can no longerservice the needs of a growing system 100.

The distributed architecture also provides scalability and efficientcomponent utilization. FIG. 1D shows an embodiment of informationmanagement system 100 including a plurality of client computing devices102 and associated data agents 142 as well as a plurality of secondarystorage computing devices 106 and associated media agents 144.Additional components can be added or subtracted based on the evolvingneeds of system 100. For instance, depending on where bottlenecks areidentified, administrators can add additional client computing devices102, secondary storage computing devices 106, and/or secondary storagedevices 108. Moreover, where multiple fungible components are available,load balancing can be implemented to dynamically address identifiedbottlenecks. As an example, storage manager 140 may dynamically selectwhich media agents 144 and/or secondary storage devices 108 to use forstorage operations based on a processing load analysis of media agents144 and/or secondary storage devices 108, respectively.

Where system 100 includes multiple media agents 144 (see, e.g., FIG.1D), a first media agent 144 may provide failover functionality for asecond failed media agent 144. In addition, media agents 144 can bedynamically selected to provide load balancing. Each client computingdevice 102 can communicate with, among other components, any of themedia agents 144, e.g., as directed by storage manager 140. And eachmedia agent 144 may communicate with, among other components, any ofsecondary storage devices 108, e.g., as directed by storage manager 140.Thus, operations can be routed to secondary storage devices 108 in adynamic and highly flexible manner, to provide load balancing, failover,etc. Further examples of scalable systems capable of dynamic storageoperations, load balancing, and failover are provided in U.S. Pat. No.7,246,207.

While distributing functionality amongst multiple computing devices canhave certain advantages, in other contexts it can be beneficial toconsolidate functionality on the same computing device. In alternativeconfigurations, certain components may reside and execute on the samecomputing device. As such, in other embodiments, one or more of thecomponents shown in FIG. 1C may be implemented on the same computingdevice. In one configuration, a storage manager 140, one or more dataagents 142, and/or one or more media agents 144 are all implemented onthe same computing device. In other embodiments, one or more data agents142 and one or more media agents 144 are implemented on the samecomputing device, while storage manager 140 is implemented on a separatecomputing device, etc. without limitation.

Exemplary Types of Information Management Operations, Including StorageOperations

In order to protect and leverage stored data, system 100 can beconfigured to perform a variety of information management operations,which may also be referred to in some cases as storage managementoperations or storage operations. These operations can generally include(i) data movement operations, (ii) processing and data manipulationoperations, and (iii) analysis, reporting, and management operations.

Data Movement Operations, Including Secondary Copy Operations

Data movement operations are generally storage operations that involvethe copying or migration of data between different locations in system100. For example, data movement operations can include operations inwhich stored data is copied, migrated, or otherwise transferred from oneor more first storage devices to one or more second storage devices,such as from primary storage device(s) 104 to secondary storagedevice(s) 108, from secondary storage device(s) 108 to differentsecondary storage device(s) 108, from secondary storage devices 108 toprimary storage devices 104, or from primary storage device(s) 104 todifferent primary storage device(s) 104, or in some cases within thesame primary storage device 104 such as within a storage array.

Data movement operations can include by way of example, backupoperations, archive operations, information lifecycle managementoperations such as hierarchical storage management operations,replication operations (e.g., continuous data replication), snapshotoperations, deduplication or single-instancing operations, auxiliarycopy operations, disaster-recovery copy operations, and the like. Aswill be discussed, some of these operations do not necessarily createdistinct copies. Nonetheless, some or all of these operations aregenerally referred to as “secondary copy operations” for simplicity,because they involve secondary copies. Data movement also comprisesrestoring secondary copies.

Backup Operations

A backup operation creates a copy of a version of primary data 112 at aparticular point in time (e.g., one or more files or other data units).Each subsequent backup copy 116 (which is a form of secondary copy 116)may be maintained independently of the first. A backup generallyinvolves maintaining a version of the copied primary data 112 as well asbackup copies 116. Further, a backup copy in some embodiments isgenerally stored in a form that is different from the native format,e.g., a backup format. This contrasts to the version in primary data 112which may instead be stored in a format native to the sourceapplication(s) 110. In various cases, backup copies can be stored in aformat in which the data is compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/orotherwise modified from the original native application format. Forexample, a backup copy may be stored in a compressed backup format thatfacilitates efficient long-term storage. Backup copies 116 can haverelatively long retention periods as compared to primary data 112, whichis generally highly changeable. Backup copies 116 may be stored on mediawith slower retrieval times than primary storage device 104. Some backupcopies may have shorter retention periods than some other types ofsecondary copies 116, such as archive copies (described below). Backupsmay be stored at an offsite location.

Backup operations can include full backups, differential backups,incremental backups, “synthetic full” backups, and/or creating a“reference copy.” A full backup (or “standard full backup”) in someembodiments is generally a complete image of the data to be protected.However, because full backup copies can consume a relatively largeamount of storage, it can be useful to use a full backup copy as abaseline and only store changes relative to the full backup copyafterwards.

A differential backup operation (or cumulative incremental backupoperation) tracks and stores changes that occurred since the last fullbackup. Differential backups can grow quickly in size, but can restorerelatively efficiently because a restore can be completed in some casesusing only the full backup copy and the latest differential copy.

An incremental backup operation generally tracks and stores changessince the most recent backup copy of any type, which can greatly reducestorage utilization. In some cases, however, restoring can be lengthycompared to full or differential backups because completing a restoreoperation may involve accessing a full backup in addition to multipleincremental backups.

Synthetic full backups generally consolidate data without directlybacking up data from the client computing device. A synthetic fullbackup is created from the most recent full backup (i.e., standard orsynthetic) and subsequent incremental and/or differential backups. Theresulting synthetic full backup is identical to what would have beencreated had the last backup for the subclient been a standard fullbackup. Unlike standard full, incremental, and differential backups,however, a synthetic full backup does not actually transfer data fromprimary storage to the backup media, because it operates as a backupconsolidator. A synthetic full backup extracts the index data of eachparticipating subclient. Using this index data and the previously backedup user data images, it builds new full backup images (e.g., bitmaps),one for each subclient. The new backup images consolidate the index anduser data stored in the related incremental, differential, and previousfull backups into a synthetic backup file that fully represents thesubclient (e.g., via pointers) but does not comprise all its constituentdata.

Any of the above types of backup operations can be at the volume level,file level, or block level. Volume level backup operations generallyinvolve copying of a data volume (e.g., a logical disk or partition) asa whole. In a file-level backup, information management system 100generally tracks changes to individual files and includes copies offiles in the backup copy. For block-level backups, files are broken intoconstituent blocks, and changes are tracked at the block level. Uponrestore, system 100 reassembles the blocks into files in a transparentfashion. Far less data may actually be transferred and copied tosecondary storage devices 108 during a file-level copy than avolume-level copy. Likewise, a block-level copy may transfer less datathan a file-level copy, resulting in faster execution. However,restoring a relatively higher-granularity copy can result in longerrestore times. For instance, when restoring a block-level copy, theprocess of locating and retrieving constituent blocks can sometimes takelonger than restoring file-level backups.

A reference copy may comprise copy(ies) of selected objects from backedup data, typically to help organize data by keeping contextualinformation from multiple sources together, and/or help retain specificdata for a longer period of time, such as for legal hold needs. Areference copy generally maintains data integrity, and when the data isrestored, it may be viewed in the same format as the source data. Insome embodiments, a reference copy is based on a specialized client,individual subclient and associated information management policies(e.g., storage policy, retention policy, etc.) that are administeredwithin system 100.

Archive Operations

Because backup operations generally involve maintaining a version of thecopied primary data 112 and also maintaining backup copies in secondarystorage device(s) 108, they can consume significant storage capacity. Toreduce storage consumption, an archive operation according to certainembodiments creates an archive copy 116 by both copying and removingsource data. Or, seen another way, archive operations can involve movingsome or all of the source data to the archive destination. Thus, datasatisfying criteria for removal (e.g., data of a threshold age or size)may be removed from source storage. The source data may be primary data112 or a secondary copy 116, depending on the situation. As with backupcopies, archive copies can be stored in a format in which the data iscompressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/or otherwise modified from theformat of the original application or source copy. In addition, archivecopies may be retained for relatively long periods of time (e.g., years)and, in some cases are never deleted. In certain embodiments, archivecopies may be made and kept for extended periods in order to meetcompliance regulations.

Archiving can also serve the purpose of freeing up space in primarystorage device(s) 104 and easing the demand on computational resourceson client computing device 102. Similarly, when a secondary copy 116 isarchived, the archive copy can therefore serve the purpose of freeing upspace in the source secondary storage device(s) 108. Examples of dataarchiving operations are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,107,298.

Snapshot Operations

Snapshot operations can provide a relatively lightweight, efficientmechanism for protecting data. From an end-user viewpoint, a snapshotmay be thought of as an “instant” image of primary data 112 at a givenpoint in time, and may include state and/or status information relativeto an application 110 that creates/manages primary data 112. In oneembodiment, a snapshot may generally capture the directory structure ofan object in primary data 112 such as a file or volume or other data setat a particular moment in time and may also preserve file attributes andcontents. A snapshot in some cases is created relatively quickly, e.g.,substantially instantly, using a minimum amount of file space, but maystill function as a conventional file system backup.

A “hardware snapshot” (or “hardware-based snapshot”) operation occurswhere a target storage device (e.g., a primary storage device 104 or asecondary storage device 108) performs the snapshot operation in aself-contained fashion, substantially independently, using hardware,firmware and/or software operating on the storage device itself. Forinstance, the storage device may perform snapshot operations generallywithout intervention or oversight from any of the other components ofthe system 100, e.g., a storage array may generate an “array-created”hardware snapshot and may also manage its storage, integrity,versioning, etc. In this manner, hardware snapshots can off-load othercomponents of system 100 from snapshot processing. An array may receivea request from another component to take a snapshot and then proceed toexecute the “hardware snapshot” operations autonomously, preferablyreporting success to the requesting component.

A “software snapshot” (or “software-based snapshot”) operation, on theother hand, occurs where a component in system 100 (e.g., clientcomputing device 102, etc.) implements a software layer that manages thesnapshot operation via interaction with the target storage device. Forinstance, the component executing the snapshot management software layermay derive a set of pointers and/or data that represents the snapshot.The snapshot management software layer may then transmit the same to thetarget storage device, along with appropriate instructions for writingthe snapshot. One example of a software snapshot product is MicrosoftVolume Snapshot Service (VSS), which is part of the Microsoft Windowsoperating system.

Some types of snapshots do not actually create another physical copy ofall the data as it existed at the particular point in time, but maysimply create pointers that map files and directories to specific memorylocations (e.g., to specific disk blocks) where the data resides as itexisted at the particular point in time. For example, a snapshot copymay include a set of pointers derived from the file system or from anapplication. In some other cases, the snapshot may be created at theblock-level, such that creation of the snapshot occurs without awarenessof the file system. Each pointer points to a respective stored datablock, so that collectively, the set of pointers reflect the storagelocation and state of the data object (e.g., file(s) or volume(s) ordata set(s)) at the point in time when the snapshot copy was created.

An initial snapshot may use only a small amount of disk space needed torecord a mapping or other data structure representing or otherwisetracking the blocks that correspond to the current state of the filesystem. Additional disk space is usually required only when files anddirectories change later on. Furthermore, when files change, typicallyonly the pointers which map to blocks are copied, not the blocksthemselves. For example for “copy-on-write” snapshots, when a blockchanges in primary storage, the block is copied to secondary storage orcached in primary storage before the block is overwritten in primarystorage, and the pointer to that block is changed to reflect the newlocation of that block. The snapshot mapping of file system data mayalso be updated to reflect the changed block(s) at that particular pointin time. In some other cases, a snapshot includes a full physical copyof all or substantially all of the data represented by the snapshot.Further examples of snapshot operations are provided in U.S. Pat. No.7,529,782. A snapshot copy in many cases can be made quickly and withoutsignificantly impacting primary computing resources because largeamounts of data need not be copied or moved. In some embodiments, asnapshot may exist as a virtual file system, parallel to the actual filesystem. Users in some cases gain read-only access to the record of filesand directories of the snapshot. By electing to restore primary data 112from a snapshot taken at a given point in time, users may also returnthe current file system to the state of the file system that existedwhen the snapshot was taken.

Replication Operations

Replication is another type of secondary copy operation. Some types ofsecondary copies 116 periodically capture images of primary data 112 atparticular points in time (e.g., backups, archives, and snapshots).However, it can also be useful for recovery purposes to protect primarydata 112 in a more continuous fashion, by replicating primary data 112substantially as changes occur. In some cases a replication copy can bea mirror copy, for instance, where changes made to primary data 112 aremirrored or substantially immediately copied to another location (e.g.,to secondary storage device(s) 108). By copying each write operation tothe replication copy, two storage systems are kept synchronized orsubstantially synchronized so that they are virtually identical atapproximately the same time. Where entire disk volumes are mirrored,however, mirroring can require significant amount of storage space andutilizes a large amount of processing resources.

According to some embodiments, secondary copy operations are performedon replicated data that represents a recoverable state, or “known goodstate” of a particular application running on the source system. Forinstance, in certain embodiments, known good replication copies may beviewed as copies of primary data 112. This feature allows the system todirectly access, copy, restore, back up, or otherwise manipulate thereplication copies as if they were the “live” primary data 112. This canreduce access time, storage utilization, and impact on sourceapplications 110, among other benefits. Based on known good stateinformation, system 100 can replicate sections of application data thatrepresent a recoverable state rather than rote copying of blocks ofdata. Examples of replication operations (e.g., continuous datareplication) are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,617,262.

Deduplication/Single-Instancing Operations

Deduplication or single-instance storage is useful to reduce the amountof non-primary data. For instance, some or all of the above-describedsecondary copy operations can involve deduplication in some fashion. Newdata is read, broken down into data portions of a selected granularity(e.g., sub-file level blocks, files, etc.), compared with correspondingportions that are already in secondary storage, and only new/changedportions are stored. Portions that already exist are represented aspointers to the already-stored data. Thus, a deduplicated secondary copy116 may comprise actual data portions copied from primary data 112 andmay further comprise pointers to already-stored data, which is generallymore storage-efficient than a full copy.

In order to streamline the comparison process, system 100 may calculateand/or store signatures (e.g., hashes or cryptographically unique IDs)corresponding to the individual source data portions and compare thesignatures to already-stored data signatures, instead of comparingentire data portions. In some cases, only a single instance of each dataportion is stored, and deduplication operations may therefore bereferred to interchangeably as “single-instancing” operations. Dependingon the implementation, however, deduplication operations can store morethan one instance of certain data portions, yet still significantlyreduce stored-data redundancy. Depending on the embodiment,deduplication portions such as data blocks can be of fixed or variablelength. Using variable length blocks can enhance deduplication byresponding to changes in the data stream, but can involve more complexprocessing. In some cases, system 100 utilizes a technique fordynamically aligning deduplication blocks based on changing content inthe data stream, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,364,652.

System 100 can deduplicate in a variety of manners at a variety oflocations. For instance, in some embodiments, system 100 implements“target-side” deduplication by deduplicating data at the media agent 144after being received from data agent 142. In some such cases, mediaagents 144 are generally configured to manage the deduplication process.For instance, one or more of the media agents 144 maintain acorresponding deduplication database that stores deduplicationinformation (e.g., data block signatures). Examples of such aconfiguration are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 9,020,900. Instead of or incombination with “target-side” deduplication, “source-side” (or“client-side”) deduplication can also be performed, e.g., to reduce theamount of data to be transmitted by data agent 142 to media agent 144.Storage manager 140 may communicate with other components within system100 via network protocols and cloud service provider APIs to facilitatecloud-based deduplication/single instancing, as exemplified in U.S. Pat.No. 8,954,446. Some other deduplication/single instancing techniques aredescribed in U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2006/0224846 and in U.S. Pat. 9,098,495.

Information Lifecycle Management and Hierarchical Storage Management

In some embodiments, files and other data over their lifetime move frommore expensive quick-access storage to less expensive slower-accessstorage. Operations associated with moving data through various tiers ofstorage are sometimes referred to as information lifecycle management(ILM) operations.

One type of ILM operation is a hierarchical storage management (HSM)operation, which generally automatically moves data between classes ofstorage devices, such as from high-cost to low-cost storage devices. Forinstance, an HSM operation may involve movement of data from primarystorage devices 104 to secondary storage devices 108, or between tiersof secondary storage devices 108. With each tier, the storage devicesmay be progressively cheaper, have relatively slower access/restoretimes, etc. For example, movement of data between tiers may occur asdata becomes less important over time. In some embodiments, an HSMoperation is similar to archiving in that creating an HSM copy may(though not always) involve deleting some of the source data, e.g.,according to one or more criteria related to the source data. Forexample, an HSM copy may include primary data 112 or a secondary copy116 that exceeds a given size threshold or a given age threshold. Often,and unlike some types of archive copies, HSM data that is removed oraged from the source is replaced by a logical reference pointer or stub.The reference pointer or stub can be stored in the primary storagedevice 104 or other source storage device, such as a secondary storagedevice 108 to replace the deleted source data and to point to orotherwise indicate the new location in (another) secondary storagedevice 108.

For example, files are generally moved between higher and lower coststorage depending on how often the files are accessed. When a userrequests access to HSM data that has been removed or migrated, system100 uses the stub to locate the data and can make recovery of the dataappear transparent, even though the HSM data may be stored at a locationdifferent from other source data. In this manner, the data appears tothe user (e.g., in file system browsing windows and the like) as if itstill resides in the source location (e.g., in a primary storage device104). The stub may include metadata associated with the correspondingdata, so that a file system and/or application can provide someinformation about the data object and/or a limited-functionality version(e.g., a preview) of the data object.

An HSM copy may be stored in a format other than the native applicationformat (e.g., compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/or otherwisemodified). In some cases, copies which involve the removal of data fromsource storage and the maintenance of stub or other logical referenceinformation on source storage may be referred to generally as “on-linearchive copies.” On the other hand, copies which involve the removal ofdata from source storage without the maintenance of stub or otherlogical reference information on source storage may be referred to as“off-line archive copies.” Examples of HSM and ILM techniques areprovided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.

Auxiliary Copy Operations

An auxiliary copy is generally a copy of an existing secondary copy 116.For instance, an initial secondary copy 116 may be derived from primarydata 112 or from data residing in secondary storage subsystem 118,whereas an auxiliary copy is generated from the initial secondary copy116. Auxiliary copies provide additional standby copies of data and mayreside on different secondary storage devices 108 than the initialsecondary copies 116. Thus, auxiliary copies can be used for recoverypurposes if initial secondary copies 116 become unavailable. Exemplaryauxiliary copy techniques are described in further detail in U.S. Pat.No. 8,230,195.

Disaster-Recovery Copy Operations

System 100 may also make and retain disaster recovery copies, often assecondary, high-availability disk copies. System 100 may createsecondary copies and store them at disaster recovery locations usingauxiliary copy or replication operations, such as continuous datareplication technologies. Depending on the particular data protectiongoals, disaster recovery locations can be remote from the clientcomputing devices 102 and primary storage devices 104, remote from someor all of the secondary storage devices 108, or both.

Data Manipulation, Including Encryption and Compression

Data manipulation and processing may include encryption and compressionas well as integrity marking and checking, formatting for transmission,formatting for storage, etc. Data may be manipulated “client-side” bydata agent 142 as well as “target-side” by media agent 144 in the courseof creating secondary copy 116, or conversely in the course of restoringdata from secondary to primary.

Encryption Operations

System 100 in some cases is configured to process data (e.g., files orother data objects, primary data 112, secondary copies 116, etc.),according to an appropriate encryption algorithm (e.g., Blowfish,Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Triple Data Encryption Standard(3-DES), etc.) to limit access and provide data security. System 100 insome cases encrypts the data at the client level, such that clientcomputing devices 102 (e.g., data agents 142) encrypt the data prior totransferring it to other components, e.g., before sending the data tomedia agents 144 during a secondary copy operation. In such cases,client computing device 102 may maintain or have access to an encryptionkey or passphrase for decrypting the data upon restore. Encryption canalso occur when media agent 144 creates auxiliary copies or archivecopies. Encryption may be applied in creating a secondary copy 116 of apreviously unencrypted secondary copy 116, without limitation. Infurther embodiments, secondary storage devices 108 can implementbuilt-in, high performance hardware-based encryption.

Compression Operations

Similar to encryption, system 100 may also or alternatively compressdata in the course of generating a secondary copy 116. Compressionencodes information such that fewer bits are needed to represent theinformation as compared to the original representation. Compressiontechniques are well known in the art. Compression operations may applyone or more data compression algorithms. Compression may be applied increating a secondary copy 116 of a previously uncompressed secondarycopy, e.g., when making archive copies or disaster recovery copies. Theuse of compression may result in metadata that specifies the nature ofthe compression, so that data may be uncompressed on restore ifappropriate.

Data Analysis, Reporting, and Management Operations

Data analysis, reporting, and management operations can differ from datamovement operations in that they do not necessarily involve copying,migration or other transfer of data between different locations in thesystem. For instance, data analysis operations may involve processing(e.g., offline processing) or modification of already stored primarydata 112 and/or secondary copies 116. However, in some embodiments dataanalysis operations are performed in conjunction with data movementoperations. Some data analysis operations include content indexingoperations and classification operations which can be useful inleveraging data under management to enhance search and other features.

Classification Operations/Content Indexing

In some embodiments, information management system 100 analyzes andindexes characteristics, content, and metadata associated with primarydata 112 (“online content indexing”) and/or secondary copies 116(“off-line content indexing”). Content indexing can identify files orother data objects based on content (e.g., user-defined keywords orphrases, other keywords/phrases that are not defined by a user, etc.),and/or metadata (e.g., email metadata such as “to,” “from,” “cc,” “bcc,”attachment name, received time, etc.). Content indexes may be searchedand search results may be restored.

System 100 generally organizes and catalogues the results into a contentindex, which may be stored within media agent database 152, for example.The content index can also include the storage locations of or pointerreferences to indexed data in primary data 112 and/or secondary copies116. Results may also be stored elsewhere in system 100 (e.g., inprimary storage device 104 or in secondary storage device 108). Suchcontent index data provides storage manager 140 or other components withan efficient mechanism for locating primary data 112 and/or secondarycopies 116 of data objects that match particular criteria, thus greatlyincreasing the search speed capability of system 100. For instance,search criteria can be specified by a user through user interface 158 ofstorage manager 140. Moreover, when system 100 analyzes data and/ormetadata in secondary copies 116 to create an “off-line content index,”this operation has no significant impact on the performance of clientcomputing devices 102 and thus does not take a toll on the productionenvironment. Examples of content indexing techniques are provided inU.S. Pat. No. 8,170,995.

One or more components, such as a content index engine, can beconfigured to scan data and/or associated metadata for classificationpurposes to populate a database (or other data structure) ofinformation, which can be referred to as a “data classificationdatabase” or a “metabase.” Depending on the embodiment, the dataclassification database(s) can be organized in a variety of differentways, including centralization, logical sub-divisions, and/or physicalsub-divisions. For instance, one or more data classification databasesmay be associated with different subsystems or tiers within system 100.As an example, there may be a first metabase associated with primarystorage subsystem 117 and a second metabase associated with secondarystorage subsystem 118. In other cases, metabase(s) may be associatedwith individual components, e.g., client computing devices 102 and/ormedia agents 144. In some embodiments, a data classification databasemay reside as one or more data structures within management database146, may be otherwise associated with storage manager 140, and/or mayreside as a separate component. In some cases, metabase(s) may beincluded in separate database(s) and/or on separate storage device(s)from primary data 112 and/or secondary copies 116, such that operationsrelated to the metabase(s) do not significantly impact performance onother components of system 100. In other cases, metabase(s) may bestored along with primary data 112 and/or secondary copies 116. Files orother data objects can be associated with identifiers (e.g., tagentries, etc.) to facilitate searches of stored data objects. Among anumber of other benefits, the metabase can also allow efficient,automatic identification of files or other data objects to associatewith secondary copy or other information management operations. Forinstance, a metabase can dramatically improve the speed with whichsystem 100 can search through and identify data as compared to otherapproaches that involve scanning an entire file system. Examples ofmetabases and data classification operations are provided in U.S. Pat.Nos. 7,734,669 and 7,747,579.

Management and Reporting Operations

Certain embodiments leverage the integrated ubiquitous nature of system100 to provide useful system-wide management and reporting. Operationsmanagement can generally include monitoring and managing the health andperformance of system 100 by, without limitation, performing errortracking, generating granular storage/performance metrics (e.g., jobsuccess/failure information, deduplication efficiency, etc.), generatingstorage modeling and costing information, and the like. As an example,storage manager 140 or another component in system 100 may analyzetraffic patterns and suggest and/or automatically route data to minimizecongestion. In some embodiments, the system can generate predictionsrelating to storage operations or storage operation information. Suchpredictions, which may be based on a trending analysis, may predictvarious network operations or resource usage, such as network trafficlevels, storage media use, use of bandwidth of communication links, useof media agent components, etc. Further examples of traffic analysis,trend analysis, prediction generation, and the like are described inU.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.

In some configurations having a hierarchy of storage operation cells, amaster storage manager 140 may track the status of subordinate cells,such as the status of jobs, system components, system resources, andother items, by communicating with storage managers 140 (or othercomponents) in the respective storage operation cells. Moreover, themaster storage manager 140 may also track status by receiving periodicstatus updates from the storage managers 140 (or other components) inthe respective cells regarding jobs, system components, systemresources, and other items. In some embodiments, a master storagemanager 140 may store status information and other information regardingits associated storage operation cells and other system information inits management database 146 and/or index 150 (or in another location).The master storage manager 140 or other component may also determinewhether certain storage-related or other criteria are satisfied, and mayperform an action or trigger event (e.g., data migration) in response tothe criteria being satisfied, such as where a storage threshold is metfor a particular volume, or where inadequate protection exists forcertain data. For instance, data from one or more storage operationcells is used to dynamically and automatically mitigate recognizedrisks, and/or to advise users of risks or suggest actions to mitigatethese risks. For example, an information management policy may specifycertain requirements (e.g., that a storage device should maintain acertain amount of free space, that secondary copies should occur at aparticular interval, that data should be aged and migrated to otherstorage after a particular period, that data on a secondary volumeshould always have a certain level of availability and be restorablewithin a given time period, that data on a secondary volume may bemirrored or otherwise migrated to a specified number of other volumes,etc.). If a risk condition or other criterion is triggered, the systemmay notify the user of these conditions and may suggest (orautomatically implement) a mitigation action to address the risk. Forexample, the system may indicate that data from a primary copy 112should be migrated to a secondary storage device 108 to free up space onprimary storage device 104. Examples of the use of risk factors andother triggering criteria are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.

In some embodiments, system 100 may also determine whether a metric orother indication satisfies particular storage criteria sufficient toperform an action. For example, a storage policy or other definitionmight indicate that a storage manager 140 should initiate a particularaction if a storage metric or other indication drops below or otherwisefails to satisfy specified criteria such as a threshold of dataprotection. In some embodiments, risk factors may be quantified intocertain measurable service or risk levels. For example, certainapplications and associated data may be considered to be more importantrelative to other data and services. Financial compliance data, forexample, may be of greater importance than marketing materials, etc.Network administrators may assign priority values or “weights” tocertain data and/or applications corresponding to the relativeimportance. The level of compliance of secondary copy operationsspecified for these applications may also be assigned a certain value.Thus, the health, impact, and overall importance of a service may bedetermined, such as by measuring the compliance value and calculatingthe product of the priority value and the compliance value to determinethe “service level” and comparing it to certain operational thresholdsto determine whether it is acceptable. Further examples of the servicelevel determination are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.

System 100 may additionally calculate data costing and data availabilityassociated with information management operation cells. For instance,data received from a cell may be used in conjunction withhardware-related information and other information about system elementsto determine the cost of storage and/or the availability of particulardata. Exemplary information generated could include how fast aparticular department is using up available storage space, how long datawould take to recover over a particular pathway from a particularsecondary storage device, costs over time, etc. Moreover, in someembodiments, such information may be used to determine or predict theoverall cost associated with the storage of certain information. Thecost associated with hosting a certain application may be based, atleast in part, on the type of media on which the data resides, forexample. Storage devices may be assigned to a particular costcategories, for example. Further examples of costing techniques aredescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.

Any of the above types of information (e.g., information related totrending, predictions, job, cell or component status, risk, servicelevel, costing, etc.) can generally be provided to users via userinterface 158 in a single integrated view or console (not shown). Reporttypes may include: scheduling, event management, media management anddata aging. Available reports may also include backup history, dataaging history, auxiliary copy history, job history, library and drive,media in library, restore history, and storage policy, etc., withoutlimitation. Such reports may be specified and created at a certain pointin time as a system analysis, forecasting, or provisioning tool.Integrated reports may also be generated that illustrate storage andperformance metrics, risks and storage costing information. Moreover,users may create their own reports based on specific needs. Userinterface 158 can include an option to graphically depict the variouscomponents in the system using appropriate icons. As one example, userinterface 158 may provide a graphical depiction of primary storagedevices 104, secondary storage devices 108, data agents 142 and/or mediaagents 144, and their relationship to one another in system 100.

In general, the operations management functionality of system 100 canfacilitate planning and decision-making. For example, in someembodiments, a user may view the status of some or all jobs as well asthe status of each component of information management system 100. Usersmay then plan and make decisions based on this data. For instance, auser may view high-level information regarding secondary copy operationsfor system 100, such as job status, component status, resource status(e.g., communication pathways, etc.), and other information. The usermay also drill down or use other means to obtain more detailedinformation regarding a particular component, job, or the like. Furtherexamples are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.

System 100 can also be configured to perform system-wide e-discoveryoperations in some embodiments. In general, e-discovery operationsprovide a unified collection and search capability for data in thesystem, such as data stored in secondary storage devices 108 (e.g.,backups, archives, or other secondary copies 116). For example, system100 may construct and maintain a virtual repository for data stored insystem 100 that is integrated across source applications 110, differentstorage device types, etc. According to some embodiments, e-discoveryutilizes other techniques described herein, such as data classificationand/or content indexing.

Information Management Policies

An information management policy 148 can include a data structure orother information source that specifies a set of parameters (e.g.,criteria and rules) associated with secondary copy and/or otherinformation management operations.

One type of information management policy 148 is a “storage policy.”According to certain embodiments, a storage policy generally comprises adata structure or other information source that defines (or includesinformation sufficient to determine) a set of preferences or othercriteria for performing information management operations. Storagepolicies can include one or more of the following: (1) what data will beassociated with the storage policy, e.g., subclient; (2) a destinationto which the data will be stored; (3) datapath information specifyinghow the data will be communicated to the destination; (4) the type ofsecondary copy operation to be performed; and (5) retention informationspecifying how long the data will be retained at the destination (see,e.g., FIG. 1E). Data associated with a storage policy can be logicallyorganized into subclients, which may represent primary data 112 and/orsecondary copies 116. A subclient may represent static or dynamicassociations of portions of a data volume. Subclients may representmutually exclusive portions. Thus, in certain embodiments, a portion ofdata may be given a label and the association is stored as a staticentity in an index, database or other storage location. Subclients mayalso be used as an effective administrative scheme of organizing dataaccording to data type, department within the enterprise, storagepreferences, or the like. Depending on the configuration, subclients cancorrespond to files, folders, virtual machines, databases, etc. In oneexemplary scenario, an administrator may find it preferable to separatee-mail data from financial data using two different subclients.

A storage policy can define where data is stored by specifying a targetor destination storage device (or group of storage devices). Forinstance, where the secondary storage device 108 includes a group ofdisk libraries, the storage policy may specify a particular disk libraryfor storing the subclients associated with the policy. As anotherexample, where the secondary storage devices 108 include one or moretape libraries, the storage policy may specify a particular tape libraryfor storing the subclients associated with the storage policy, and mayalso specify a drive pool and a tape pool defining a group of tapedrives and a group of tapes, respectively, for use in storing thesubclient data. While information in the storage policy can bestatically assigned in some cases, some or all of the information in thestorage policy can also be dynamically determined based on criteria setforth in the storage policy. For instance, based on such criteria, aparticular destination storage device(s) or other parameter of thestorage policy may be determined based on characteristics associatedwith the data involved in a particular secondary copy operation, deviceavailability (e.g., availability of a secondary storage device 108 or amedia agent 144), network status and conditions (e.g., identifiedbottlenecks), user credentials, and the like.

Datapath information can also be included in the storage policy. Forinstance, the storage policy may specify network pathways and componentsto utilize when moving the data to the destination storage device(s). Insome embodiments, the storage policy specifies one or more media agents144 for conveying data associated with the storage policy between thesource and destination. A storage policy can also specify the type(s) ofassociated operations, such as backup, archive, snapshot, auxiliarycopy, or the like. Furthermore, retention parameters can specify howlong the resulting secondary copies 116 will be kept (e.g., a number ofdays, months, years, etc.), perhaps depending on organizational needsand/or compliance criteria.

When adding a new client computing device 102, administrators canmanually configure information management policies 148 and/or othersettings, e.g., via user interface 158. However, this can be an involvedprocess resulting in delays, and it may be desirable to begin dataprotection operations quickly, without awaiting human intervention.Thus, in some embodiments, system 100 automatically applies a defaultconfiguration to client computing device 102. As one example, when oneor more data agent(s) 142 are installed on a client computing device102, the installation script may register the client computing device102 with storage manager 140, which in turn applies the defaultconfiguration to the new client computing device 102. In this manner,data protection operations can begin substantially immediately. Thedefault configuration can include a default storage policy, for example,and can specify any appropriate information sufficient to begin dataprotection operations. This can include a type of data protectionoperation, scheduling information, a target secondary storage device108, data path information (e.g., a particular media agent 144), and thelike.

Another type of information management policy 148 is a “schedulingpolicy,” which specifies when and how often to perform operations.Scheduling parameters may specify with what frequency (e.g., hourly,weekly, daily, event-based, etc.) or under what triggering conditionssecondary copy or other information management operations are to takeplace. Scheduling policies in some cases are associated with particularcomponents, such as a subclient, client computing device 102, and thelike.

Another type of information management policy 148 is an “audit policy”(or “security policy”), which comprises preferences, rules and/orcriteria that protect sensitive data in system 100. For example, anaudit policy may define “sensitive objects” which are files or dataobjects that contain particular keywords (e.g., “confidential,” or“privileged”) and/or are associated with particular keywords (e.g., inmetadata) or particular flags (e.g., in metadata identifying a documentor email as personal, confidential, etc.). An audit policy may furtherspecify rules for handling sensitive objects. As an example, an auditpolicy may require that a reviewer approve the transfer of any sensitiveobjects to a cloud storage site, and that if approval is denied for aparticular sensitive object, the sensitive object should be transferredto a local primary storage device 104 instead. To facilitate thisapproval, the audit policy may further specify how a secondary storagecomputing device 106 or other system component should notify a reviewerthat a sensitive object is slated for transfer.

Another type of information management policy 148 is a “provisioningpolicy,” which can include preferences, priorities, rules, and/orcriteria that specify how client computing devices 102 (or groupsthereof) may utilize system resources, such as available storage oncloud storage and/or network bandwidth. A provisioning policy specifies,for example, data quotas for particular client computing devices 102(e.g., a number of gigabytes that can be stored monthly, quarterly orannually). Storage manager 140 or other components may enforce theprovisioning policy. For instance, media agents 144 may enforce thepolicy when transferring data to secondary storage devices 108. If aclient computing device 102 exceeds a quota, a budget for the clientcomputing device 102 (or associated department) may be adjustedaccordingly or an alert may trigger.

While the above types of information management policies 148 aredescribed as separate policies, one or more of these can be generallycombined into a single information management policy 148. For instance,a storage policy may also include or otherwise be associated with one ormore scheduling, audit, or provisioning policies or operationalparameters thereof. Moreover, while storage policies are typicallyassociated with moving and storing data, other policies may beassociated with other types of information management operations. Thefollowing is a non-exhaustive list of items that information managementpolicies 148 may specify:

-   -   schedules or other timing information, e.g., specifying when        and/or how often to perform information management operations;    -   the type of secondary copy 116 and/or copy format (e.g.,        snapshot, backup, archive, HSM, etc.);    -   a location or a class or quality of storage for storing        secondary copies 116 (e.g., one or more particular secondary        storage devices 108);    -   preferences regarding whether and how to encrypt, compress,        deduplicate, or otherwise modify or transform secondary copies        116;    -   which system components and/or network pathways (e.g., preferred        media agents 144) should be used to perform secondary storage        operations;    -   resource allocation among different computing devices or other        system components used in performing information management        operations (e.g., bandwidth allocation, available storage        capacity, etc.);    -   whether and how to synchronize or otherwise distribute files or        other data objects across multiple computing devices or hosted        services; and    -   retention information specifying the length of time primary data        112 and/or secondary copies 116 should be retained, e.g., in a        particular class or tier of storage devices, or within the        system 100.

Information management policies 148 can additionally specify or dependon historical or current criteria that may be used to determine whichrules to apply to a particular data object, system component, orinformation management operation, such as:

-   -   frequency with which primary data 112 or a secondary copy 116 of        a data object or metadata has been or is predicted to be used,        accessed, or modified;    -   time-related factors (e.g., aging information such as time since        the creation or modification of a data object);    -   deduplication information (e.g., hashes, data blocks,        deduplication block size, deduplication efficiency or other        metrics);    -   an estimated or historic usage or cost associated with different        components (e.g., with secondary storage devices 108);    -   the identity of users, applications 110, client computing        devices 102 and/or other computing devices that created,        accessed, modified, or otherwise utilized primary data 112 or        secondary copies 116;    -   a relative sensitivity (e.g., confidentiality, importance) of a        data object, e.g., as determined by its content and/or metadata;    -   the current or historical storage capacity of various storage        devices;    -   the current or historical network capacity of network pathways        connecting various components within the storage operation cell;    -   access control lists or other security information; and    -   the content of a particular data object (e.g., its textual        content) or of metadata associated with the data object.

Exemplary Storage Policy and Secondary Copy Operations

FIG. 1E includes a data flow diagram depicting performance of secondarycopy operations by an embodiment of information management system 100,according to an exemplary storage policy 148A. System 100 includes astorage manager 140, a client computing device 102 having a file systemdata agent 142A and an email data agent 142B operating thereon, aprimary storage device 104, two media agents 144A, 144B, and twosecondary storage devices 108: a disk library 108A and a tape library108B. As shown, primary storage device 104 includes primary data 112A,which is associated with a logical grouping of data associated with afile system (“file system subclient”), and primary data 112B, which is alogical grouping of data associated with email (“email subclient”). Thetechniques described with respect to FIG. 1E can be utilized inconjunction with data that is otherwise organized as well.

As indicated by the dashed box, the second media agent 144B and tapelibrary 108B are “off-site,” and may be remotely located from the othercomponents in system 100 (e.g., in a different city, office building,etc.). Indeed, “off-site” may refer to a magnetic tape located in remotestorage, which must be manually retrieved and loaded into a tape driveto be read. In this manner, information stored on the tape library 108Bmay provide protection in the event of a disaster or other failure atthe main site(s) where data is stored.

The file system subclient 112A in certain embodiments generallycomprises information generated by the file system and/or operatingsystem of client computing device 102, and can include, for example,file system data (e.g., regular files, file tables, mount points, etc.),operating system data (e.g., registries, event logs, etc.), and thelike. The e-mail subclient 112B can include data generated by an e-mailapplication operating on client computing device 102, e.g., mailboxinformation, folder information, emails, attachments, associateddatabase information, and the like. As described above, the subclientscan be logical containers, and the data included in the correspondingprimary data 112A and 112B may or may not be stored contiguously.

The exemplary storage policy 148A includes backup copy preferences orrule set 160, disaster recovery copy preferences or rule set 162, andcompliance copy preferences or rule set 164. Backup copy rule set 160specifies that it is associated with file system subclient 166 and emailsubclient 168. Each of subclients 166 and 168 are associated with theparticular client computing device 102. Backup copy rule set 160 furtherspecifies that the backup operation will be written to disk library 108Aand designates a particular media agent 144A to convey the data to disklibrary 108A. Finally, backup copy rule set 160 specifies that backupcopies created according to rule set 160 are scheduled to be generatedhourly and are to be retained for 30 days. In some other embodiments,scheduling information is not included in storage policy 148A and isinstead specified by a separate scheduling policy.

Disaster recovery copy rule set 162 is associated with the same twosubclients 166 and 168. However, disaster recovery copy rule set 162 isassociated with tape library 108B, unlike backup copy rule set 160.Moreover, disaster recovery copy rule set 162 specifies that a differentmedia agent, namely 144B, will convey data to tape library 108B.Disaster recovery copies created according to rule set 162 will beretained for 60 days and will be generated daily. Disaster recoverycopies generated according to disaster recovery copy rule set 162 canprovide protection in the event of a disaster or other catastrophic dataloss that would affect the backup copy 116A maintained on disk library108A.

Compliance copy rule set 164 is only associated with the email subclient168, and not the file system subclient 166. Compliance copies generatedaccording to compliance copy rule set 164 will therefore not includeprimary data 112A from the file system subclient 166. For instance, theorganization may be under an obligation to store and maintain copies ofemail data for a particular period of time (e.g., 10 years) to complywith state or federal regulations, while similar regulations do notapply to file system data. Compliance copy rule set 164 is associatedwith the same tape library 108B and media agent 144B as disasterrecovery copy rule set 162, although a different storage device or mediaagent could be used in other embodiments. Finally, compliance copy ruleset 164 specifies that the copies it governs will be generated quarterlyand retained for 10 years.

Secondary Copy Jobs

A logical grouping of secondary copy operations governed by a rule setand being initiated at a point in time may be referred to as a“secondary copy job” (and sometimes may be called a “backup job,” eventhough it is not necessarily limited to creating only backup copies).Secondary copy jobs may be initiated on demand as well. Steps 1-9 belowillustrate three secondary copy jobs based on storage policy 148A.

Referring to FIG. 1E, at step 1, storage manager 140 initiates a backupjob according to the backup copy rule set 160, which logically comprisesall the secondary copy operations necessary to effectuate rules 160 instorage policy 148A every hour, including steps 1-4 occurring hourly.For instance, a scheduling service running on storage manager 140accesses backup copy rule set 160 or a separate scheduling policyassociated with client computing device 102 and initiates a backup jobon an hourly basis. Thus, at the scheduled time, storage manager 140sends instructions to client computing device 102 (i.e., to both dataagent 142A and data agent 142B) to begin the backup job.

At step 2, file system data agent 142A and email data agent 142B onclient computing device 102 respond to instructions from storage manager140 by accessing and processing the respective subclient primary data112A and 112B involved in the backup copy operation, which can be foundin primary storage device 104. Because the secondary copy operation is abackup copy operation, the data agent(s) 142A, 142B may format the datainto a backup format or otherwise process the data suitable for a backupcopy.

At step 3, client computing device 102 communicates the processed filesystem data (e.g., using file system data agent 142A) and the processedemail data (e.g., using email data agent 142B) to the first media agent144A according to backup copy rule set 160, as directed by storagemanager 140. Storage manager 140 may further keep a record in managementdatabase 146 of the association between media agent 144A and one or moreof: client computing device 102, file system subclient 112A, file systemdata agent 142A, email subclient 112B, email data agent 142B, and/orbackup copy 116A.

The target media agent 144A receives the data-agent-processed data fromclient computing device 102, and at step 4 generates and conveys backupcopy 116A to disk library 108A to be stored as backup copy 116A, againat the direction of storage manager 140 and according to backup copyrule set 160. Media agent 144A can also update its index 153 to includedata and/or metadata related to backup copy 116A, such as informationindicating where the backup copy 116A resides on disk library 108A,where the email copy resides, where the file system copy resides, dataand metadata for cache retrieval, etc. Storage manager 140 may similarlyupdate its index 150 to include information relating to the secondarycopy operation, such as information relating to the type of operation, aphysical location associated with one or more copies created by theoperation, the time the operation was performed, status informationrelating to the operation, the components involved in the operation, andthe like. In some cases, storage manager 140 may update its index 150 toinclude some or all of the information stored in index 153 of mediaagent 144A. At this point, the backup job may be considered complete.After the 30-day retention period expires, storage manager 140 instructsmedia agent 144A to delete backup copy 116A from disk library 108A andindexes 150 and/or 153 are updated accordingly.

At step 5, storage manager 140 initiates another backup job for adisaster recovery copy according to the disaster recovery rule set 162.Illustratively this includes steps 5-7 occurring daily for creatingdisaster recovery copy 116B. Illustratively, and by way of illustratingthe scalable aspects and off-loading principles embedded in system 100,disaster recovery copy 116B is based on backup copy 116A and not onprimary data 112A and 112B.

At step 6, illustratively based on instructions received from storagemanager 140 at step 5, the specified media agent 1448 retrieves the mostrecent backup copy 116A from disk library 108A.

At step 7, again at the direction of storage manager 140 and asspecified in disaster recovery copy rule set 162, media agent 144B usesthe retrieved data to create a disaster recovery copy 116B and store itto tape library 108B. In some cases, disaster recovery copy 116B is adirect, mirror copy of backup copy 116A, and remains in the backupformat. In other embodiments, disaster recovery copy 116B may be furthercompressed or encrypted, or may be generated in some other manner, suchas by using primary data 112A and 112B from primary storage device 104as sources. The disaster recovery copy operation is initiated once a dayand disaster recovery copies 116B are deleted after 60 days; indexes 153and/or 150 are updated accordingly when/after each informationmanagement operation is executed and/or completed. The present backupjob may be considered completed.

At step 8, storage manager 140 initiates another backup job according tocompliance rule set 164, which performs steps 8-9 quarterly to createcompliance copy 116C. For instance, storage manager 140 instructs mediaagent 144B to create compliance copy 116C on tape library 108B, asspecified in the compliance copy rule set 164.

At step 9 in the example, compliance copy 116C is generated usingdisaster recovery copy 116B as the source. This is efficient, becausedisaster recovery copy resides on the same secondary storage device andthus no network resources are required to move the data. In otherembodiments, compliance copy 116C is instead generated using primarydata 112B corresponding to the email subclient or using backup copy 116Afrom disk library 108A as source data. As specified in the illustratedexample, compliance copies 116C are created quarterly, and are deletedafter ten years, and indexes 153 and/or 150 are kept up-to-dateaccordingly.

Exemplary Applications of Storage Policies—Information GovernancePolicies and Classification

Again referring to FIG. 1E, storage manager 140 may permit a user tospecify aspects of storage policy 148A. For example, the storage policycan be modified to include information governance policies to define howdata should be managed in order to comply with a certain regulation orbusiness objective. The various policies may be stored, for example, inmanagement database 146. An information governance policy may align withone or more compliance tasks that are imposed by regulations or businessrequirements. Examples of information governance policies might includea Sarbanes-Oxley policy, a HIPAA policy, an electronic discovery(e-discovery) policy, and so on.

Information governance policies allow administrators to obtain differentperspectives on an organization's online and offline data, without theneed for a dedicated data silo created solely for each differentviewpoint. As described previously, the data storage systems hereinbuild an index that reflects the contents of a distributed data set thatspans numerous clients and storage devices, including both primary dataand secondary copies, and online and offline copies. An organization mayapply multiple information governance policies in a top-down manner overthat unified data set and indexing schema in order to view andmanipulate the data set through different lenses, each of which isadapted to a particular compliance or business goal. Thus, for example,by applying an e-discovery policy and a Sarbanes-Oxley policy, twodifferent groups of users in an organization can conduct two verydifferent analyses of the same underlying physical set of data/copies,which may be distributed throughout the information management system.

An information governance policy may comprise a classification policy,which defines a taxonomy of classification terms or tags relevant to acompliance task and/or business objective. A classification policy mayalso associate a defined tag with a classification rule. Aclassification rule defines a particular combination of criteria, suchas users who have created, accessed or modified a document or dataobject; file or application types; content or metadata keywords; clientsor storage locations; dates of data creation and/or access; reviewstatus or other status within a workflow (e.g., reviewed orun-reviewed); modification times or types of modifications; and/or anyother data attributes in any combination, without limitation. Aclassification rule may also be defined using other classification tagsin the taxonomy. The various criteria used to define a classificationrule may be combined in any suitable fashion, for example, via Booleanoperators, to define a complex classification rule. As an example, ane-discovery classification policy might define a classification tag“privileged” that is associated with documents or data objects that (1)were created or modified by legal department staff, or (2) were sent toor received from outside counsel via email, or (3) contain one of thefollowing keywords: “privileged” or “attorney” or “counsel,” or otherlike terms. Accordingly, all these documents or data objects will beclassified as “privileged.”

One specific type of classification tag, which may be added to an indexat the time of indexing, is an “entity tag.” An entity tag may be, forexample, any content that matches a defined data mask format. Examplesof entity tags might include, e.g., social security numbers (e.g., anynumerical content matching the formatting mask XXX-XX-XXXX), credit cardnumbers (e.g., content having a 13-16 digit string of numbers), SKUnumbers, product numbers, etc. A user may define a classification policyby indicating criteria, parameters or descriptors of the policy via agraphical user interface, such as a form or page with fields to befilled in, pull-down menus or entries allowing one or more of severaloptions to be selected, buttons, sliders, hypertext links or other knownuser interface tools for receiving user input, etc. For example, a usermay define certain entity tags, such as a particular product number orproject ID. In some implementations, the classification policy can beimplemented using cloud-based techniques. For example, the storagedevices may be cloud storage devices, and the storage manager 140 mayexecute cloud service provider API over a network to classify datastored on cloud storage devices.

Restore Operations from Secondary Copies

While not shown in FIG. 1E, at some later point in time, a restoreoperation can be initiated involving one or more of secondary copies116A, 116B, and 116C. A restore operation logically takes a selectedsecondary copy 116, reverses the effects of the secondary copy operationthat created it, and stores the restored data to primary storage where aclient computing device 102 may properly access it as primary data. Amedia agent 144 and an appropriate data agent 142 (e.g., executing onthe client computing device 102) perform the tasks needed to complete arestore operation. For example, data that was encrypted, compressed,and/or deduplicated in the creation of secondary copy 116 will becorrespondingly rehydrated (reversing deduplication), uncompressed, andunencrypted into a format appropriate to primary data. Metadata storedwithin or associated with the secondary copy 116 may be used during therestore operation. In general, restored data should be indistinguishablefrom other primary data 112. Preferably, the restored data has fullyregained the native format that may make it immediately usable byapplication 110.

As one example, a user may manually initiate a restore of backup copy116A, e.g., by interacting with user interface 158 of storage manager140 or with a web-based console with access to system 100. Storagemanager 140 may accesses data in its index 150 and/or managementdatabase 146 (and/or the respective storage policy 148A) associated withthe selected backup copy 116A to identify the appropriate media agent144A and/or secondary storage device 108A where the secondary copyresides. The user may be presented with a representation (e.g., stub,thumbnail, listing, etc.) and metadata about the selected secondarycopy, in order to determine whether this is the appropriate copy to berestored, e.g., date that the original primary data was created. Storagemanager 140 will then instruct media agent 144A and an appropriate dataagent 142 on the target client computing device 102 to restore secondarycopy 116A to primary storage device 104. A media agent may be selectedfor use in the restore operation based on a load balancing algorithm, anavailability based algorithm, or other criteria. The selected mediaagent, e.g., 144A, retrieves secondary copy 116A from disk library 108A.For instance, media agent 144A may access its index 153 to identify alocation of backup copy 116A on disk library 108A, or may accesslocation information residing on disk library 108A itself.

In some cases a backup copy 116A that was recently created or accessed,may be cached to speed up the restore operation. In such a case, mediaagent 144A accesses a cached version of backup copy 116A residing inindex 153, without having to access disk library 108A for some or all ofthe data. Once it has retrieved backup copy 116A, the media agent 144Acommunicates the data to the requesting client computing device 102.Upon receipt, file system data agent 142A and email data agent 142B mayunpack (e.g., restore from a backup format to the native applicationformat) the data in backup copy 116A and restore the unpackaged data toprimary storage device 104. In general, secondary copies 116 may berestored to the same volume or folder in primary storage device 104 fromwhich the secondary copy was derived; to another storage location orclient computing device 102; to shared storage, etc. In some cases, thedata may be restored so that it may be used by an application 110 of adifferent version/vintage from the application that created the originalprimary data 112.

Exemplary Secondary Copy Formatting

The formatting and structure of secondary copies 116 can vary dependingon the embodiment. In some cases, secondary copies 116 are formatted asa series of logical data units or “chunks” (e.g., 512 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB, 4GB, or 8 GB chunks). This can facilitate efficient communication andwriting to secondary storage devices 108, e.g., according to resourceavailability. For example, a single secondary copy 116 may be written ona chunk-by-chunk basis to one or more secondary storage devices 108. Insome cases, users can select different chunk sizes, e.g., to improvethroughput to tape storage devices. Generally, each chunk can include aheader and a payload. The payload can include files (or other dataunits) or subsets thereof included in the chunk, whereas the chunkheader generally includes metadata relating to the chunk, some or all ofwhich may be derived from the payload. For example, during a secondarycopy operation, media agent 144, storage manager 140, or other componentmay divide files into chunks and generate headers for each chunk byprocessing the files. Headers can include a variety of information suchas file and/or volume identifier(s), offset(s), and/or other informationassociated with the payload data items, a chunk sequence number, etc.Importantly, in addition to being stored with secondary copy 116 onsecondary storage device 108, chunk headers can also be stored to index153 of the associated media agent(s) 144 and/or to index 150 associatedwith storage manager 140. This can be useful for providing fasterprocessing of secondary copies 116 during browsing, restores, or otheroperations. In some cases, once a chunk is successfully transferred to asecondary storage device 108, the secondary storage device 108 returnsan indication of receipt, e.g., to media agent 144 and/or storagemanager 140, which may update their respective indexes 153, 150accordingly. During restore, chunks may be processed (e.g., by mediaagent 144) according to the information in the chunk header toreassemble the files.

Data can also be communicated within system 100 in data channels thatconnect client computing devices 102 to secondary storage devices 108.These data channels can be referred to as “data streams,” and multipledata streams can be employed to parallelize an information managementoperation, improving data transfer rate, among other advantages. Exampledata formatting techniques including techniques involving datastreaming, chunking, and the use of other data structures in creatingsecondary copies are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,315,923, 8,156,086,and 8,578,120.

FIGS. 1F and 1G are diagrams of example data streams 170 and 171,respectively, which may be employed for performing informationmanagement operations. Referring to FIG. 1F, data agent 142 forms datastream 170 from source data associated with a client computing device102 (e.g., primary data 112). Data stream 170 is composed of multiplepairs of stream header 172 and stream data (or stream payload) 174. Datastreams 170 and 171 shown in the illustrated example are for asingle-instanced storage operation, and a stream payload 174 thereforemay include both single-instance (SI) data and/or non-SI data. A streamheader 172 includes metadata about the stream payload 174. This metadatamay include, for example, a length of the stream payload 174, anindication of whether the stream payload 174 is encrypted, an indicationof whether the stream payload 174 is compressed, an archive fileidentifier (ID), an indication of whether the stream payload 174 issingle instanceable, and an indication of whether the stream payload 174is a start of a block of data.

Referring to FIG. 1G, data stream 171 has the stream header 172 andstream payload 174 aligned into multiple data blocks. In this example,the data blocks are of size 64 KB. The first two stream header 172 andstream payload 174 pairs comprise a first data block of size 64 KB. Thefirst stream header 172 indicates that the length of the succeedingstream payload 174 is 63 KB and that it is the start of a data block.The next stream header 172 indicates that the succeeding stream payload174 has a length of 1 KB and that it is not the start of a new datablock. Immediately following stream payload 174 is a pair comprising anidentifier header 176 and identifier data 178. The identifier header 176includes an indication that the succeeding identifier data 178 includesthe identifier for the immediately previous data block. The identifierdata 178 includes the identifier that the data agent 142 generated forthe data block. The data stream 171 also includes other stream header172 and stream payload 174 pairs, which may be for SI data and/or non-SIdata.

FIG. 1H is a diagram illustrating data structures 180 that may be usedto store blocks of SI data and non-SI data on a storage device (e.g.,secondary storage device 108). According to certain embodiments, datastructures 180 do not form part of a native file system of the storagedevice. Data structures 180 include one or more volume folders 182, oneor more chunk folders 184/185 within the volume folder 182, and multiplefiles within chunk folder 184. Each chunk folder 184/185 includes ametadata file 186/187, a metadata index file 188/189, one or morecontainer files 190/191/193, and a container index file 192/194.Metadata file 186/187 stores non-SI data blocks as well as links to SIdata blocks stored in container files. Metadata index file 188/189stores an index to the data in the metadata file 186/187. Containerfiles 190/191/193 store SI data blocks. Container index file 192/194stores an index to container files 190/191/193. Among other things,container index file 192/194 stores an indication of whether acorresponding block in a container file 190/191/193 is referred to by alink in a metadata file 186/187. For example, data block B2 in thecontainer file 190 is referred to by a link in metadata file 187 inchunk folder 185. Accordingly, the corresponding index entry incontainer index file 192 indicates that data block B2 in container file190 is referred to. As another example, data block B1 in container file191 is referred to by a link in metadata file 187, and so thecorresponding index entry in container index file 192 indicates thatthis data block is referred to.

As an example, data structures 180 illustrated in FIG. 1H may have beencreated as a result of separate secondary copy operations involving twoclient computing devices 102. For example, a first secondary copyoperation on a first client computing device 102 could result in thecreation of the first chunk folder 184, and a second secondary copyoperation on a second client computing device 102 could result in thecreation of the second chunk folder 185. Container files 190/191 in thefirst chunk folder 184 would contain the blocks of SI data of the firstclient computing device 102. If the two client computing devices 102have substantially similar data, the second secondary copy operation onthe data of the second client computing device 102 would result in mediaagent 144 storing primarily links to the data blocks of the first clientcomputing device 102 that are already stored in the container files190/191. Accordingly, while a first secondary copy operation may resultin storing nearly all of the data subject to the operation, subsequentsecondary storage operations involving similar data may result insubstantial data storage space savings, because links to already storeddata blocks can be stored instead of additional instances of datablocks.

If the operating system of the secondary storage computing device 106 onwhich media agent 144 operates supports sparse files, then when mediaagent 144 creates container files 190/191/193, it can create them assparse files. A sparse file is a type of file that may include emptyspace (e.g., a sparse file may have real data within it, such as at thebeginning of the file and/or at the end of the file, but may also haveempty space in it that is not storing actual data, such as a contiguousrange of bytes all having a value of zero). Having container files190/191/193 be sparse files allows media agent 144 to free up space incontainer files 190/191/193 when blocks of data in container files190/191/193 no longer need to be stored on the storage devices. In someexamples, media agent 144 creates a new container file 190/191/193 whena container file 190/191/193 either includes 100 blocks of data or whenthe size of the container file 190 exceeds 50 MB. In other examples,media agent 144 creates a new container file 190/191/193 when acontainer file 190/191/193 satisfies other criteria (e.g., it containsfrom approx. 100 to approx. 1000 blocks or when its size exceedsapproximately 50 MB to 1 GB). In some cases, a file on which a secondarycopy operation is performed may comprise a large number of data blocks.For example, a 100 MB file may comprise 400 data blocks of size 256 KB.If such a file is to be stored, its data blocks may span more than onecontainer file, or even more than one chunk folder. As another example,a database file of 20 GB may comprise over 40,000 data blocks of size512 KB. If such a database file is to be stored, its data blocks willlikely span multiple container files, multiple chunk folders, andpotentially multiple volume folders. Restoring such files may requireaccessing multiple container files, chunk folders, and/or volume foldersto obtain the requisite data blocks.

Using Backup Data for Replication and Disaster Recovery (“LiveSynchronization”)

There is an increased demand to off-load resource intensive informationmanagement tasks (e.g., data replication tasks) away from productiondevices (e.g., physical or virtual client computing devices) in order tomaximize production efficiency. At the same time, enterprises expectaccess to readily-available up-to-date recovery copies in the event offailure, with little or no production downtime.

FIG. 2A illustrates a system 200 configured to address these and otherissues by using backup or other secondary copy data to synchronize asource subsystem 201 (e.g., a production site) with a destinationsubsystem 203 (e.g., a failover site). Such a technique can be referredto as “live synchronization” and/or “live synchronization replication.”In the illustrated embodiment, the source client computing devices 202 ainclude one or more virtual machines (or “VMs”) executing on one or morecorresponding VM host computers 205 a, though the source need not bevirtualized. The destination site 203 may be at a location that isremote from the production site 201, or may be located in the same datacenter, without limitation. One or more of the production site 201 anddestination site 203 may reside at data centers at known geographiclocations, or alternatively may operate “in the cloud.”

The synchronization can be achieved by generally applying an ongoingstream of incremental backups from the source subsystem 201 to thedestination subsystem 203, such as according to what can be referred toas an “incremental forever” approach. FIG. 2A illustrates an embodimentof a data flow which may be orchestrated at the direction of one or morestorage managers (not shown). At step 1, the source data agent(s) 242 aand source media agent(s) 244 a work together to write backup or othersecondary copies of the primary data generated by the source clientcomputing devices 202 a into the source secondary storage device(s) 208a. At step 2, the backup/secondary copies are retrieved by the sourcemedia agent(s) 244 a from secondary storage. At step 3, source mediaagent(s) 244 a communicate the backup/secondary copies across a networkto the destination media agent(s) 244 b in destination subsystem 203.

As shown, the data can be copied from source to destination in anincremental fashion, such that only changed blocks are transmitted, andin some cases multiple incremental backups are consolidated at thesource so that only the most current changed blocks are transmitted toand applied at the destination. An example of live synchronization ofvirtual machines using the “incremental forever” approach is found inU.S. Patent Application No. 62/265,339 entitled “Live Synchronizationand Management of Virtual Machines across Computing and VirtualizationPlatforms and Using Live Synchronization to Support Disaster Recovery.”Moreover, a deduplicated copy can be employed to further reduce networktraffic from source to destination. For instance, the system can utilizethe deduplicated copy techniques described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,239,687,entitled “Systems and Methods for Retaining and Using Data BlockSignatures in Data Protection Operations.”

At step 4, destination media agent(s) 244 b write the receivedbackup/secondary copy data to the destination secondary storagedevice(s) 208 b. At step 5, the synchronization is completed when thedestination media agent(s) and destination data agent(s) 242 b restorethe backup/secondary copy data to the destination client computingdevice(s) 202 b. The destination client computing device(s) 202 b may bekept “warm” awaiting activation in case failure is detected at thesource. This synchronization/replication process can incorporate thetechniques described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/721,971,entitled “Replication Using Deduplicated Secondary Copy Data.”

Where the incremental backups are applied on a frequent, on-going basis,the synchronized copies can be viewed as mirror or replication copies.Moreover, by applying the incremental backups to the destination site203 using backup or other secondary copy data, the production site 201is not burdened with the synchronization operations. Because thedestination site 203 can be maintained in a synchronized “warm” state,the downtime for switching over from the production site 201 to thedestination site 203 is substantially less than with a typical restorefrom secondary storage. Thus, the production site 201 may flexibly andefficiently fail over, with minimal downtime and with relativelyup-to-date data, to a destination site 203, such as a cloud-basedfailover site. The destination site 203 can later be reversesynchronized back to the production site 201, such as after repairs havebeen implemented or after the failure has passed.

Integrating with the Cloud Using File System Protocols

Given the ubiquity of cloud computing, it can be increasingly useful toprovide data protection and other information management services in ascalable, transparent, and highly plug-able fashion. FIG. 2B illustratesan information management system 200 having an architecture thatprovides such advantages, and incorporates use of a standard file systemprotocol between primary and secondary storage subsystems 217, 218. Asshown, the use of the network file system (NFS) protocol (or any anotherappropriate file system protocol such as that of the Common InternetFile System (CIFS)) allows data agent 242 to be moved from the primarystorage subsystem 217 to the secondary storage subsystem 218. Forinstance, as indicated by the dashed box 206 around data agent 242 andmedia agent 244, data agent 242 can co-reside with media agent 244 onthe same server (e.g., a secondary storage computing device such ascomponent 106), or in some other location in secondary storage subsystem218.

Where NFS is used, for example, secondary storage subsystem 218allocates an NFS network path to the client computing device 202 or toone or more target applications 210 running on client computing device202. During a backup or other secondary copy operation, the clientcomputing device 202 mounts the designated NFS path and writes data tothat NFS path. The NFS path may be obtained from NFS path data 215stored locally at the client computing device 202, and which may be acopy of or otherwise derived from NFS path data 219 stored in thesecondary storage subsystem 218.

Write requests issued by client computing device(s) 202 are received bydata agent 242 in secondary storage subsystem 218, which translates therequests and works in conjunction with media agent 244 to process andwrite data to a secondary storage device(s) 208, thereby creating abackup or other secondary copy. Storage manager 240 can include apseudo-client manager 217, which coordinates the process by, among otherthings, communicating information relating to client computing device202 and application 210 (e.g., application type, client computing deviceidentifier, etc.) to data agent 242, obtaining appropriate NFS path datafrom the data agent 242 (e.g., NFS path information), and deliveringsuch data to client computing device 202.

Conversely, during a restore or recovery operation client computingdevice 202 reads from the designated NFS network path, and the readrequest is translated by data agent 242. The data agent 242 then workswith media agent 244 to retrieve, re-process (e.g., re-hydrate,decompress, decrypt), and forward the requested data to client computingdevice 202 using NFS.

By moving specialized software associated with system 200 such as dataagent 242 off the client computing devices 202, the illustrativearchitecture effectively decouples the client computing devices 202 fromthe installed components of system 200, improving both scalability andplug-ability of system 200. Indeed, the secondary storage subsystem 218in such environments can be treated simply as a read/write NFS targetfor primary storage subsystem 217, without the need for informationmanagement software to be installed on client computing devices 202. Asone example, an enterprise implementing a cloud production computingenvironment can add VM client computing devices 202 without installingand configuring specialized information management software on theseVMs. Rather, backups and restores are achieved transparently, where thenew VMs simply write to and read from the designated NFS path. Anexample of integrating with the cloud using file system protocols orso-called “infinite backup” using NFS share is found in U.S. PatentApplication No. 62/294,920, entitled “Data Protection Operations Basedon Network Path Information.” Examples of improved data restorationscenarios based on network-path information, including using storedbackups effectively as primary data sources, may be found in U.S. PatentApplication No. 62/297,057, entitled “Data Restoration Operations Basedon Network Path Information.”

Highly Scalable Managed Data Pool Architecture

Enterprises are seeing explosive data growth in recent years, often fromvarious applications running in geographically distributed locations.FIG. 2C shows a block diagram of an example of a highly scalable,managed data pool architecture useful in accommodating such data growth.The illustrated system 200, which may be referred to as a “web-scale”architecture according to certain embodiments, can be readilyincorporated into both open compute/storage and common-cloudarchitectures.

The illustrated system 200 includes a grid 245 of media agents 244logically organized into a control tier 231 and a secondary or storagetier 233. Media agents assigned to the storage tier 233 can beconfigured to manage a secondary storage pool 208 as a deduplicationstore, and be configured to receive client write and read requests fromthe primary storage subsystem 217, and direct those requests to thesecondary tier 233 for servicing. For instance, media agents CMA1-CMA3in the control tier 231 maintain and consult one or more deduplicationdatabases 247, which can include deduplication information (e.g., datablock hashes, data block links, file containers for deduplicated files,etc.) sufficient to read deduplicated files from secondary storage pool208 and write deduplicated files to secondary storage pool 208. Forinstance, system 200 can incorporate any of the deduplication systemsand methods shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,020,900, entitled“Distributed Deduplicated Storage System,” and U.S. Pat. Pub. No.2014/0201170, entitled “High Availability Distributed DeduplicatedStorage System.”

Media agents SMA1-SMA6 assigned to the secondary tier 233 receive writeand read requests from media agents CMA1-CMA3 in control tier 231, andaccess secondary storage pool 208 to service those requests. Mediaagents CMA1-CMA3 in control tier 231 can also communicate with secondarystorage pool 208, and may execute read and write requests themselves(e.g., in response to requests from other control media agentsCMA1-CMA3) in addition to issuing requests to media agents in secondarytier 233. Moreover, while shown as separate from the secondary storagepool 208, deduplication database(s) 247 can in some cases reside instorage devices in secondary storage pool 208.

As shown, each of the media agents 244 (e.g., CMA1-CMA3, SMA1-SMA6,etc.) in grid 245 can be allocated a corresponding dedicated partition251A-2511, respectively, in secondary storage pool 208. Each partition251 can include a first portion 253 containing data associated with(e.g., stored by) media agent 244 corresponding to the respectivepartition 251. System 200 can also implement a desired level ofreplication, thereby providing redundancy in the event of a failure of amedia agent 244 in grid 245. Along these lines, each partition 251 canfurther include a second portion 255 storing one or more replicationcopies of the data associated with one or more other media agents 244 inthe grid.

System 200 can also be configured to allow for seamless addition ofmedia agents 244 to grid 245 via automatic configuration. As oneillustrative example, a storage manager (not shown) or other appropriatecomponent may determine that it is appropriate to add an additional nodeto control tier 231, and perform some or all of the following: (i)assess the capabilities of a newly added or otherwise availablecomputing device as satisfying a minimum criteria to be configured as orhosting a media agent in control tier 231; (ii) confirm that asufficient amount of the appropriate type of storage exists to supportan additional node in control tier 231 (e.g., enough disk drive capacityexists in storage pool 208 to support an additional deduplicationdatabase 247); (iii) install appropriate media agent software on thecomputing device and configure the computing device according to apre-determined template; (iv) establish a partition 251 in the storagepool 208 dedicated to the newly established media agent 244; and (v)build any appropriate data structures (e.g., an instance ofdeduplication database 247). An example of highly scalable managed datapool architecture or so-called web-scale architecture for storage anddata management is found in U.S. Patent Application No. 62/273,286entitled “Redundant and Robust Distributed Deduplication Data StorageSystem.”

The embodiments and components thereof disclosed in FIGS. 2A, 2B, and2C, as well as those in FIGS. 1A-1H, may be implemented in anycombination and permutation to satisfy data storage management andinformation management needs at one or more locations and/or datacenters.

Detecting Malware and/or Ransomware in Monitored Data

An information management system may include multiple client computingdevices, a storage manager, secondary storage computing devices,secondary storage devices, one or more virtual machine host, and othersuch devices and/or components. The client computing devices may beconfigured to back up primary data and/or file system data to thesecondary storage devices, where the secondary storage computing devicesare responsible for managing the secondary copies generated by theclient computing devices. A storage manager in communication with theclient computing devices and the secondary storage computing device maytransfer a machine-learning classifier and/or an anomaly detection modelto the client computing devices and/or the secondary storage computingdevice, where the classifier determines whether file system activitiesoccurring on the client computing devices are anomalous and can indicatewhether a client computing device has likely been compromised by malwareand/or ransomware.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an information management system302 that supports detecting ransomware in one or more client computingdevices 306-310, in accordance with an example embodiment. Theinformation management system 302 may include one or more networks 332,where the one or more networks 332 interconnect the various devices andcomponents illustrated in FIG. 3. In one embodiment, the informationmanagement system 302 includes a storage manager 304, one or more clientcomputing devices 306-310, a secondary storage computing device 312, anda virtual machine host 314.

In one embodiment, the storage manager 304 is implemented similarly tothe storage manager 140 illustrated in FIG. 1C, and additionallycomprises new features for ransomware detection and for operating insystem 302. Accordingly, the storage manager 304 may include one or morecomponents illustrated in FIG. 1C, such as a management database thatstores one or more information policies and/or a management index, amanagement agent, a jobs agent, or any other components discussed withreference to the storage manager 140. The storage manager 304 may be incommunication with, and/or include, an anomaly detection database 316,where the anomaly detection database 316 is configured to store anomalydetection information corresponding to one or more of the clientcomputing devices 306-310. The anomaly detection database 316 may bepopulated with the anomaly detection information via the storage manager304 being in communication with one or more monitoring applications thatprovide the anomaly detection information to the storage manager 304 forstoring in the anomaly detection database 316. Additionally, and/oralternatively, the storage manager 304 may allow access to the anomalydetection database 316 to other components and/or devices in theinformation management system 302, such as by allowing one or more ofthe monitoring applications write and/or read access to the anomalydetection database 316.

The anomaly detection database 316 may be implemented as one or moredatabases, and further still, as one or more different types ofdatabases. For example, the anomaly detection database 316 may beimplemented as a hierarchical database, a relational database, a NoSQLdatabase an object-oriented database, one or more flat files, any othertype of database now known or later developed, or combinations thereof.The anomaly detection information may include information aboutanomalies detected in the one or more client computing devices 306-310,such as anomalies detected in the file system data of the one or moreclient computing devices 306-310 and/or anomalies detected in theprimary data managed by the storage manager 304. The anomaly detectioninformation may include, but is not limited to, the number of detectedchanges in a monitored file system, the number of deletions in amonitored file system, which client computing devices had detectedchanges, specific directories and/or files that were modified in amonitored client computing device, the date and/or time on which adetected change occurred, the geographic location of a monitored clientcomputing device that experienced an anomaly, and other such anomalydetection information. The storage manager 304 may make the anomalydetection information available for review via a graphical userinterface (e.g., a web-based interface, a standalone application, etc.)to one or more of the client computing devices 306-310 and/or to otherusers, without limitation.

In addition to the storage manager 304 and its accompanying databases(e.g., the anomaly detection database 316), the information managementsystem 302 may also include one or more client computing devices306-310. The one or more client computing devices 306-310 may beimplemented similarly to the client computing device 102 illustrated inFIG. 1A. As discussed with reference to FIG. 4, the one or more clientcomputing devices 306-310 may include components similar to thecomponents found in the client computing device 102, such as one or moreprocessors, one or more communication interfaces, one or morecomputer-readable mediums, an operating system, one or moreapplications, and so forth. In addition, the one or more clientcomputing devices 306-310 may include one or more components thatfacilitate the detection of anomalies in the file system data and/orprimary data of the one or more client computing devices 306-310, suchas a monitoring application, a classifier, an anomaly detection model,and other such components.

The one or more client computing devices 306-310 may be in communicationwith the other devices of the information management system 302, such asthe storage manager 304, the secondary storage computing device 312,and/or the virtual machine host 314. The one or more client computingdevices 306-310 may communicate with the other devices in theinformation management system 302, including each other client computingdevice, via a network 332. The network 332 may include one or morenetworks including, but not limited to, an ad hoc network, an intranet,an extranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a local area network(LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a WAN, a wireless WAN (WWAN), ametropolitan area network (MAN), a portion of the Internet, a portion ofthe Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a cellular telephonenetwork, a wireless network, a Wi-Fi network, a WiMAX network, anothertype of network, or a combination of two or more such networks.

The secondary storage computing device 312 is configured to createsecondary copies of primary data of the one or more client computingdevices 306-310, and to store the secondary copies in a secondarystorage device (e.g., secondary storage device 108). The secondarystorage computing device 312 may be implemented similarly to thesecondary storage computing devices 106 illustrated in FIG. 1A andinclude similar components. For example, the secondary storage computingdevice 312 may also be in communication with and/or manage a secondarystorage device (not shown), where secondary copies of the primary dataof the one or more computing devices 306-310 are stored. In addition,the secondary storage computing device 312 may include a media agent 320and a media agent index 322, which may be implemented similarly to themedia agent 144 and the media agent index 153, respectively, illustratedin FIG. 1C. Furthermore, the secondary storage computing device 312 maybe configured with additional components and/or applications thatfacilitate the monitoring of changes in the primary data of the clientcomputing devices 306-310 and/or the detection of one or more anomaliesin the primary data of the client computing devices 306-310.

As discussed with reference to FIG. 4, and in one implementation, themonitoring of modifications and/or changes of the client computingdevice 306-310 may occur in real-time or in near real-time. However, insome implementations, the secondary storage computing device 312 may beconfigured to monitor for changes between backups of the primary data ofthe client computing device 306-310. For example, one or more operatingsystems may prohibit or prevent the real-time or near real-time ofmonitoring of the primary data of a client computing device.Accordingly, the secondary storage computing device 312 may beconfigured to monitor changes between backups of the one or more clientcomputing devices 306-310. The changes between the backups of the one ormore client computing devices 306-310 may be recorded in an anomalydetection database 318 that is associated with the secondary storagecomputing device 312. For example, where the secondary storage computingdevice 312 detects and/or determines that an anomaly is present in abackup of a client computing device, anomaly detection informationcorresponding to the backup may be stored in the anomaly detectiondatabase 318. The anomaly detection database 318 may be implementedsimilarly to the anomaly detection database 316, and may store similarinformation. The secondary storage computing device 312 may use theanomaly detection database 318 to store anomaly detection information,and then report the anomaly detection information to the storage manager304, which may then store the reported anomaly detection information inits own anomaly detection database 316. Thus, the secondary storagecomputing device 312 may be implemented as a mechanism for determiningwhether an anomaly is present in the backups of the one or more clientcomputing devices 306-310 where real-time or near real-time monitoringof the one or more client computing devices 306-310 is not possible oris undesirable. However, in some instances, monitoring may be performedboth on a real-time or near real-time basis as well as the monitoringbeing performed on the backups of the one or more client computingdevices 306-310.

The information management system 302 may also include a virtual machinehost 314 in communication with the other devices and/or components ofthe information management system 302 via the network 332. In oneembodiment, the virtual machine host 314 is configured to host one ormore virtual machines 326-330 that are managed by a virtual machinemanager 324. The virtual machine host 314 may provide the physicalhardware infrastructure used by the virtual machines 326-330. Oneexample of a virtual machine manager 324 (e.g., a hypervisor) is thevCenter Server®, which is available from VMWare, Inc. located in PaloAlto, Calif. Another example of a virtual machine manager 324 is theMicrosoft® System Center Virtual Machine Manager, which is availablefrom the Microsoft Corporation, located in Redmond, Wash. Each of thevirtual machines 326-330 may be instantiated with one or more componentsfound in a virtual machine, such as virtual memory (volatile andnon-volatile), one or more virtual processors, one or more virtualcommunication interfaces, an operating system, various applications, andso forth.

In one embodiment, the virtual machine host 314 is in communication withthe secondary storage computing device 312 and one or more secondarystorage devices (not shown) managed by the secondary storage computingdevice 312. The information management system 302 may be implemented inthis configuration so that a virtual machine 326 may be instantiatedusing one or more secondary copies (e.g., secondary copies 116) managedby the secondary storage computing device 312. More particularly, avirtual machine (e.g., virtual machine 326) may be instantiated as acopy of a client computing device (e.g., client computing device 306).For example, the storage manager 304, the client computing device 306,and/or the secondary storage computing device 312 may detect anomalouschanges in the primary data of the client computing device 306. Aclassifier or other machine-learning algorithm may determine that it isprobable that the anomalous changes correspond to malware or ransomwarethat has infected the client computing device 306. The operator oradministrator of the information management system 302 may then browseone secondary copies of the primary data of the client computing device306 to identify a secondary copy 116 of the client computing device 306that is unaffected by the malware or ransomware. The operator oradministrator may then instantiate a virtual machine (e.g., virtualmachine 326) via the virtual machine host 314 using the identifiedsecondary copy to effectively replicate a virtual copy of the clientcomputing device 306 that existed prior to a time of the infection. Thevirtual machine 326 may then operate in place of the client computingdevice 306 until the client computing device 306, after restoring theidentified secondary copy 116 to a primary datastore of the virtualmachine 326, until the client computing device 306 has been cleaned ofthe malware and/or ransomware.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a client computing device 306 ofthe information management system 302 of FIG. 3, according to an exampleembodiment. In one embodiment, the client computing device 306 includesone or more processor(s) 404, one or more communication interface(s)406, and one or more non-transitory, computer-readable medium(s) 408.The one or more computer-readable medium(s) 408 may include one or moreexecutable application(s) 410 and data 412. The client computing device306 may be managed by the storage manager 304 and in communication withthe secondary storage computing device 312 via the network(s) 332.

The one or more processor(s) 404 may be any type of commerciallyavailable processor, such as processors available from the IntelCorporation, Advanced Micro Devices, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, orother such processors. Further still, the one or more processor(s) 404may include one or more special-purpose processors, such as aField-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or an Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit (ASIC). The one or more processor(s) 404 may alsoinclude programmable logic or circuitry that is temporarily configuredby software to perform certain operations. Thus, once configured by suchsoftware, the one or more processor(s) 404 become specific machines (orspecific components of a machine) uniquely tailored to perform theconfigured functions and are no longer general-purpose processors.

The one or more communication interface(s) 406 are configured tofacilitate communications between the client computing device 306 andother devices within the information management system 302, such as thestorage manager 304, the secondary storage computing device 312, and thevirtual machine host 314. The one or more communication interface(s) 406may include wired communication components, wireless communicationcomponents, cellular communication components, Near Field Communication(NFC) components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy),Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components to providecommunication via other modalities.

The client computing device 306 further includes one or morecomputer-readable medium(s) 408 that store one or more application(s)410 and data 412 for monitoring the file system data and/or primary dataof the client computing device 306 and determining whether the clientcomputing device 306 has been infected with malware and/or ransomware.The computer-readable medium(s) 408 may include one or more devicesconfigured to store instructions and data temporarily or permanently andmay include, but is not be limited to, random-access memory (RAM),read-only memory (ROM), buffer memory, flash memory, optical media,magnetic media, cache memory, other types of storage (e.g., ErasableProgrammable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and/or any suitable combinationthereof. The term “computer-readable medium” should be taken to includea single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributeddatabase, or associated caches and servers) able to store theapplication(s) 410 and the data 412. Accordingly, the computer-readablemedium(s) 408 may be implemented as a single storage apparatus ordevice, or, alternatively and/or additionally, as a “cloud-based”storage systems or storage networks that include multiple storageapparatus or devices.

In one embodiment, the application(s) 410 are written in acomputer-programming and/or scripting language. Examples of suchlanguages include, but are not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript,Perl, Python, or any other computer programming and/or scriptinglanguage now known or later developed.

The client computing device 306 may include a variety of software suchas an operating system, a web browser, a word processing application, ane-mail client, and so forth. A discussion of this software has beenomitted for brevity. To explain the benefits provided by the disclosedsystems and methods for monitoring the client computing devices 306-310and detecting malware and/or ransomware, FIG. 4 illustrates that theapplication(s) 410 of the client computing device 306 may include one ormore data agent(s) 414 and a ransomware protection monitoringapplication 416.

The one or more data agent(s) 414 may be implemented similarly to thedata agent 142 discussed with reference to FIG. 1C. More particularly,the one or more data agent(s) 414 may be responsible for backing up datafrom different sources of data on the client computing device 306, suchas various application(s) (e.g., an e-mail client, calendaringapplication, etc.), an operating system, one or more file systems,database applications, and so forth. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4,the one or more data agent(s) 414 may back up file system data 424,which generally includes data used by, and/or corresponding to, a filesystem instantiated by an operating system, and primary data 428, whichmay include all other types of data other than the file system data. Forexample, primary data 428 may include data generated by applications,whereas the file system data 424 may include the structures thatorganize the primary data 428 (e.g., partition boot sector, master filetable, a master boot record, and so forth) within a file system. Theprimary data 428 may be created substantially directly from datagenerated by a corresponding source application and may include files,directories, file system volumes, data blocks, extents, or any otherhierarchies or organizations of data objects.

During operation of the client computing device 306, the file systemdata 424 and/or the primary data 428 may change. For example, one ormore application(s) 410 of the client computing device 306 may addfiles, delete files, modify files, change permissions for the files,encrypt files, compress files, and other such operations. Under ordinarycircumstances, such modifications and changes to the files of the clientcomputing device 306 are expected. However, should the client computingdevice 306 be infected with malware or ransomware, there may be anunusually high number of modifications and/or changes to the filesperformed by the malware and/or ransomware. By the time the malwareand/or ransomware has finished operating on the files of the clientcomputing device 306, it may be too late for the user of the clientcomputing device 306 to recover those files or to remove the malwareand/or ransomware.

To anticipate the threat of the malware and/or ransomware, the clientcomputing device 306 may be configured with a ransomware protectionmonitoring application 416 (“the RPMA 416”). The RPMA 416 may includevarious modules and/or components to facilitate in the monitoring of theclient computing device 306. In one embodiment, the modules and/orcomponents include a monitoring process 418 and a classifier 420. Toconfigure the operation of the modules and/or components of the RPMA416, the data 412 may include ransomware protection configuration data426 and an anomaly detection model 422.

In one embodiment, the client computing device 306 obtains the RPMA 416,the configuration data 426, and/or the anomaly detection model 422 fromthe storage manager 304. In another embodiment, the RPMA 416, theconfiguration data 426, and/or the anomaly detection model 422 may beintegrated into one or more of the data agent(s) 414. As explainedpreviously, the client computing device 306 may be in communication withthe storage manager 304 via the network 332, and because the storagemanager 304 is responsible for managing the client computing device 306,the storage manager 304 may be granted authorization to install and/orremove applications from the client computing device 306, including theRPMA 416. Similarly, the storage manager 304 may be grantedauthorization to add, upgrade, and/or remove data to the clientcomputing device 306, including the ransomware protection configurationdata 426 and/or the anomaly detection model 422.

The RPMA 416 is configured to monitor the data 412 of the clientcomputing device 306 on a real-time or near real-time basis. Inparticular, the RPMA 416 may instantiate one or more monitoringprocesses 418 to monitor the data 412 of the client computing device306, such as the file system data 424 and/or the primary data 428. Theone or more monitoring processes 418 may be configured to monitor formodifications and/or changes to the file system data 424 and/or theprimary data 428. The ransomware protection configuration data 426 mayconfigure and/or instruct the RPMA 416 as to how it should monitor theclient computing device 306 including, but not limited to, the number ofprocess(es) 418 to instantiate, the frequency of monitoring, which filesystem data 424 and/or primary data 428 to monitor, and so forth.

In one embodiment, the RPMA 416 instantiates a monitoring process foreach data source to be monitored. For example, the RPMA 416 mayinstantiate a first monitoring process to monitor changes to the filesystem data 424, a second monitoring process to monitor changes to dataassociated with an e-mail client, a third monitoring process to monitorchanges to data associated with a word processing application, a fourthmonitoring process to monitor changes to data associated with a databaseapplication, and so forth. In this embodiment, there may be multiplemonitoring processes 418 based on the number of data sources withinprimary data 428, the number of applications generating and/or modifyingdata, the number of file systems being monitored, and so forth.

In another embodiment, the RPMA 416 may instantiate a single monitoringprocess 418, where the single monitoring process 418 monitors the filesystem data 424 and/or the primary data 428. In this embodiment, themonitoring process 418 may be responsible for monitoring the data ofmany different sources, depending on which sources are generating datawithin the client computing device 306.

The monitoring process(es) 418 may be configured to monitor for one ormore different types of changes to the file system data 424 and/orprimary data 428. Types of changes include, but are not limited to, thecreation of new data (e.g., new files and/or new data structures), themodification of existing data (e.g., the editing of files and/or datastructures), the deletion of existing data (e.g., the deletion ofexisting files and/or data structures), and other such modifications tothe file system data 424 and/or primary data 428.

The monitoring process 418 may monitor and record the modifications tothe file system data 424 and/or primary data 428 for one or more sets ofa predetermined time period. For example, the monitoring process 418 maymonitor and record the modifications to the file system data 424 and/orprimary data 428 over a first time period, then a subsequent second timeperiod, then a third time period, and so forth. A predetermined timeperiod may be measured as one or more minutes, one or more hours, one ormore days, or combinations of the foregoing.

The predetermined time periods may be configured by an administratorand/or operator of the information management system 302. Additionally,and/or alternatively, the predetermined time period may be automaticallymodified (e.g., increased and/or decreased) by one or more devicesand/or components in the information management system 302, such as thestorage manager 304. For example, the storage manager 304 may modify thepredetermined time period based on a determination that the monitoringprocess(es) 418 are collecting too much or too little modificationinformation. For example, the storage manager 304 may be configured witha data collection threshold that establishes a baseline for a number ofdetected changes, and may compare the number of changes recorded by themonitoring process(es) 418 with this threshold. Based on thiscomparison, the storage manager 304 may modify the predetermined timeperiod for the one or more monitoring process(es) 418, depending onwhether additional data points (e.g., recorded modifications) are needed(or not needed) for the one or more time periods. This allows one ormore of the monitoring processes 418 to determine a rate of change ofprimary data 428 over a unit of time.

The one or more process(es) 418 may record the modifications to the filesystem data 424 and/or the primary data 428 at one or more locationswithin the information management system 302. In one embodiment, the oneor more process(es) 418 locally record the modifications at the clientcomputing device 306. Additionally, and/or alternative, the one or moreprocess(es) 418 may record the modifications within the anomalydetection database 316, which may be separate from the client computingdevice 306 and protected from infection by malware. Additionally, and/oralternatively, the modifications may be transmitted in near real-time toanother location and/or device, such as the storage manager 304. Forexample, at the end of each predetermined time period, the one or moreprocess(es) 418 may communicate the recorded modifications to thestorage manager 304, and the storage manager 304 may then store theserecorded modifications in the anomaly detection database 316. Asdiscussed below, the storage manager 304 may access the anomalydetection database 316 to retrieve information about these modificationsto display on one or more graphical user interfaces.

It is not uncommon for the file system data 424 and/or the primary data428 to change hundreds of times during a monitored, predetermined timeperiod (e.g., a unit of time). Accordingly, to determine whether thechanges are the result of malware and/or ransomware, or simply from theordinary course of operation of the client computing device 306, theapplication(s) 410 may include a classifier 420 and an anomaly detectionmodel 422, where the classifier and/or the anomaly detection model 422output a result indicative of whether the monitored changes and/ormodifications are from malware and/or ransomware. The classifier 420 mayoutput a probability value, an absolute value, and/or a binary valuethat the changes to the file system data 424 and/or the primary data 428are from the behavior of malware and/or ransomware.

The client computing device 306 may obtain the classifier 420 and/or theanomaly detection model 422 from one or more sources of data, such asthe storage manager 304 and/or the secondary storage computing device312. In one embodiment, and prior to be copied to the client computingdevice 306, the anomaly detection model 422 is initially trained using alabeled training data set, where the labeled training data set indicateswhich types of modifications and/or changes are from the innocuousoperation of a client computing device 306, and which types ofmodifications and/or changes are from the operation of malware and/orransomware. The training of the anomaly detection model 422 may occurusing various types of data, various types of modifications, over one ormore different time periods, and so forth. In addition, the training mayinclude human verification, where the human verification providesfeedback as to whether the one or more training data sets accuratelyreflects the outcome each training data set is associated with.

During the monitoring of the file system data 424 and/or the primarydata 428, the one or more monitoring process(es) 418 may provide themodifications and/or changes to the classifier 420 as input, where theclassifier 420 uses the anomaly detection model 422 to output aconfidence value, probabilistic value, and/or binary value that themonitored changes are associated with the behavior of malware and/orransomware. The output by the classifier 420 may then be communicated tothe storage manager 304, which may then store the output in the anomalydetection database 316. In one embodiment, the classifier 420 and/or theanomaly detection model 422 are stored locally on the client computingdevice 306 so that the changes and/or modifications to the file systemdata 424 and/or primary data 428 can be input to the classifier 420 on areal-time and/or near real-time basis. In this embodiment, themonitoring process(es) 418 may be monitoring production or “live” dataof the client computing device 306, and the changes to the productiondata may be input to the classifier 420. By operating on live orproduction data of the client computing device 306, the classifier 420can determine whether the detected changes and/or modifications are theresult of malware and/or ransomware within a short time period of thedetected changes and/or modifications having occurred.

In another embodiment, the classifier 420 and/or the anomaly detectionmodel 422 are executed by the storage manager 304 and may be stored in astorage device local to the storage manager 304. The classifier 420and/or the anomaly detection model 422 may be stored innetwork-accessible storage device, and the storage manager 304 mayexecute the classifier 420 from the network-accessible storage device.Where the storage manager 304 executes the classifier 420, one or moreof the monitoring process(s) 418 may communicate the detected changesand/or modifications to the file system data 424 and/or primary data 428to the storage manager 304. The storage manager 304 may then store thesedetected changes and/or modifications in the anomaly detection database318. In addition, the storage manager 304 may input the detected changesand/or modifications to the classifier, which may then output aprobability value and/or binary value that the changes and/ormodifications are the result of malware and/or ransomware. The storagemanager 304 may also store this result in the anomaly detection database316, which may then be provided to one or more graphical userinterfaces, discussed further below.

In addition to generating an output of whether the behavior isassociated with the operation of malware and/or ransomware, theclassifier may output a value indicating the type of behavior that wasdetected. For example, where the classifier 420 determines that there anunusual number of deletions within the file system data 424 and/or theprimary data 428 during a particular predetermined time period, theclassifier 420 may output a value indicating this behavior. The valuemay be a numerical value, a series of alphanumeric characters, and soforth. Another type of behavior that the classifier 420 may determineand/or identify is a number of excessive file moves (e.g., a file beingmoved from one directory to another directory). Yet a further type ofbehavior that the classifier 420 may determine is an excessive number ofencryptions (e.g., a large number of files being encrypted). Each ofthese types of behaviors may have been previously trained within theanomaly detection model 422 so that the classifier 420 can readilyidentify and/or determine them. Further still, the anomaly detectionmodel 422 may be updateable, so that the anomaly detection model 422 maybe up-to-date with different behaviors and how they may be recognized.The anomaly detection model 422 may be updated by the storage manager

Whether the classifier 420 is executed by the storage manager 304 or theclient computing device (e.g., any one of client computing devices306-310), the classifier 420 can inform an operator or administrator ofthe information management system 302 as to whether the client computingdevice 306 (or any client computing device managed by the storagemanager 304) is exhibiting behavior symptomatic of a malware and/orransomware infection. In one embodiment, the storage manager 304notifies the administrator or operator of the information managementsystem 302 via one or more communication channels, such as an e-mail,text sent via the Short Messaging System (SMS), an automated phone call,or combinations of the foregoing. In addition, the storage manager 304may display the behaviors detected by the classifier on a graphical userinterface that the administrator or operator may use to interact withthe various devices of the information management system 302, andimplement a solution to address the potentially infected clientcomputing device. In some instances, operator and/or administratorapproval may be needed to resolve the potentially infected clientcomputing device; in other instances, the storage manager 304 mayoperate automatically to implement a solution.

When the classifier 420 determines that some activity on the clientcomputing device is outside of expected values, the classifier 420 maygenerate additional information about the detected activity. Theinformation about the detected activity may include, but is not limitedto, the type of activity detected, a number of files that were created,a number of files that were modified, a number of files that wererenamed, a number of files that were deleted, and a date and/or time atwhich the classifier 420 detected the activity. This information may becommunicated to the storage manager 304, where it may be stored in theanomaly detection database 316 and associated with the client computingdevice where the activity was detected.

As mentioned previously, the client computing devices 306-310 may be incommunication with the secondary storage computing device 312, where themedia agent 320 creates secondary copies of file system data 424 and/orprimary data 428 within a secondary storage device (not shown)communicatively coupled with the secondary storage computing device 312.Furthermore, as the secondary storage computing device 312 may maintainrecords of the secondary copies in a media agent index 322 or create acopy of backup records in a management database communicatively coupledto the storage manager 304 (e.g., management database 146), anadministrator or operator of the information management system 302 mayaccess and/or view metadata about the secondary copies. As discussedbelow with reference to FIGS. 11A-11B, an administrator or operator ofthe information management system 302 may use a graphical user interfaceto browse volumes, directories, and/or files of backups of one or moreof the client computing devices 306-310.

As the secondary storage computing device 312 may manage backups of theclient computing devices 306-310, an administrator or operator of theinformation management system 302 may selectively restore one or morefiles, directories, and/or volumes from secondary copies to theircorresponding client computing devices 306-310 in the event that theclient computing device has become infected with malware and/orransomware. In one embodiment, the selective restoration of a clientcomputing device is manually performed by the administrator or operatorof the information management system 302. For example, the administratoror operator may manually select which of the volumes, directories,and/or files to restore to the client computing device. In anotherembodiment, the restoration of the client computing device may beautomatically initiated by the storage manager 304, which may then beperformed by the media agent 320 and one or more of the data agent(s)414. In this embodiment, the storage manager 304 may inform theadministrator and/or operator of the information management system 302that a client computing device has become infected with malware and/orransomware (e.g., based on the output of the classifier 420), and thestorage manager 304 may request authorization to restore the affectedfiles to the client computing device (e.g., files that were maliciouslyencrypted, deleted, renamed, obfuscated, etc.) from the secondary copiesmanaged by the secondary storage computing device 312. In performing theautomatic restoration, the storage manager 304 may instruct the mediaagent 320 to select secondary copies that were most recently created,where the file system data 424 and/or primary data 428 did not exhibitthe abnormal behavior.

In addition to being able to selectively restore backups to a clientcomputing device, the administrator and/or operator may decide torestore a complete backup of the client computing device to a virtualmachine. Accordingly, in one embodiment, an administrator and/oroperator may instruct the virtual machine host 314 to instantiate avirtual machine (e.g., virtual machine 326) having a configurationsimilar and/or approximate to the configuration of the client computingdevice that is being restored. The virtual machine host 314 may obtainthe hardware configuration of the client computing device in severaldifferent ways. In one embodiment, the virtual machine host 314 queriesthe client computing device (e.g., client computing device 306) for itshardware configuration, and the client computing device 306 respondswith a listing of its hardware configuration. In another embodiment, theadministrator and/or operator of the information management system 302may manually input the hardware configuration of the virtual machineto-be-instantiated into the virtual machine host 314. In yet a thirdembodiment, the virtual machine host 314 may store different hardwareconfiguration templates, and may instantiate a new virtual machine fromone of the hardware configuration templates. Thus, there are severaldifferent ways in which the virtual machine host 314 may obtain thehardware specification for the virtual machine to-be-instantiated.

After instantiating a virtual machine (e.g., virtual machine 326), oneor more of the client computing devices 306-310 may be virtualized usingsecondary copies managed by the secondary storage computing device 312.Although an administrator or operator of the information managementsystem 302 may selectively restore one or more files to a clientcomputing device 306, there may be instances where virtualization of theclient computing device 306 is preferable over a selective restore. Forexample, the classifier 420 may determine that a significant number offiles, directories, and/or data structures of the client computingdevice 306 have been affected by malware and/or ransomware, and theadministrator and/or operator may determine that a selective restore ofsuch files, directories, and/or data structures may be ineffective. Asanother example, the client computing device 306 may be a “missioncritical” device (e.g., the downtime of the device negatively impactsthe performance of the information management system 302), and needingthe client computing device 306 operational is urgent. In theseexamples, virtualizing the client computing device 306 via the virtualmachine host 314 is an expedient solution to restoring the clientcomputing device 306 to an operational state that was backed up prior toany infection or instability caused by malware and/or ransomware. Theadministrator and/or operator of the information management system 302may interact with the virtual machine manager 324 to manage any of thevirtual machines 326-330 that have been instantiated by the virtualmachine host 314.

In the preceding discussion, the monitoring process(es) 418 and/orclassifier 420 monitor and act on file system data 424 and/or primarydata 428 of a device on a real-time and/or near real-time basis.However, in some instances, such real-time and/or near real-timemonitoring may not be possible. To address this deficiency, thesecondary storage computing device 312 may also be configured with aRansomware Protection Monitoring Application (“RPMA”) to monitor changesbetween backups of the one or more client computing devices 306-310,where such changes may indicate whether a client computing device hasbecome affected by malware and/or ransomware.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of the secondary storage computingdevice 312 of the information management system 302 of FIG. 3, accordingto an example embodiment. In one embodiment, the secondary storagecomputing device 312 includes one or more processor(s) 504, one or morecommunication interface(s) 506, and one or more computer-readablemedium(s) 508. The one or more computer-readable medium(s) 508 mayinclude one or more application(s) 510 and data 512. The secondarystorage computing device 312 in communication with the one or moreclient computing devices 306-310, the storage manager 304, and/or thevirtual machine host 314 via the network 332.

The one or more processor(s) 504 may be any type of commerciallyavailable processor, such as processors available from the IntelCorporation, Advanced Micro Devices, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, orother such processors. Further still, the one or more processor(s) 504may include one or more special-purpose processors, such as aField-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or an Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit (ASIC). The one or more processor(s) 504 may alsoinclude programmable logic or circuitry that is temporarily configuredby software to perform certain operations. Thus, once configured by suchsoftware, the one or more processor(s) 504 become specific machines (orspecific components of a machine) uniquely tailored to perform theconfigured functions and are no longer general-purpose processors.

The one or more communication interface(s) 506 are configured tofacilitate communications between the secondary storage computing device312 and other devices within the information management system 302, suchas the storage manager 304, the one or more client computing devices306-310, and the virtual machine host 314. The one or more communicationinterface(s) 506 may include wired communication components, wirelesscommunication components, cellular communication components, Near FieldCommunication (NFC) components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth®Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components toprovide communication via other modalities.

The secondary storage computing device 312 further includes one or morecomputer-readable medium(s) 508 that store one or more application(s)510 and data 512 for providing access to a secondary storage device andfor monitoring differences between backups of the one or more clientcomputing devices 306-310. The computer-readable medium(s) 508 mayinclude one or more devices configured to store instructions and datatemporarily or permanently and may include, but is not be limited to,random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), buffer memory, flashmemory, optical media, magnetic media, cache memory, other types ofstorage (e.g., Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and/orany suitable combination thereof. The term “computer-readable medium”should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., acentralized or distributed database, or associated caches and servers)able to store the application(s) 510 and the data 512. Accordingly, thecomputer-readable medium(s) 508 may be implemented as a single storageapparatus or device, or, alternatively and/or additionally, as a“cloud-based” storage systems or storage networks that include multiplestorage apparatus or devices.

In one embodiment, the application(s) 510 are written in acomputer-programming and/or scripting language. Examples of suchlanguages include, but are not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript,Perl, Python, or any other computer programming and/or scriptinglanguage now known or later developed.

The secondary storage computing device 312 may be implemented similarlyto the secondary storage computing device 106 illustrated in FIG. 1C.Accordingly, the secondary storage computing device 312 may include amedia agent 320 that generates indexing information stored in the mediaagent index 322. In addition, the secondary storage computing device 312may include a ransomware protection monitoring application 516 (RPMA516) that monitors for changes between backups of the client computingdevices 306-310. In one embodiment, the RPMA 516 determines thedifferences between the backups of client computing devices 306-310 byreferencing indexing data of the media agent index 524 (e.g., filesystem data 528).

The media agent 320 may be implemented similarly to the media agent 144discussed with reference to FIG. 1C. For example, the media agent 320may be responsible for managing, coordinating, and facilitating thetransmission of data between one or more data agents of the clientcomputing devices 306-310 and associated with the media agent 320. Inaddition, the media agent 320 may be configured to generate and storemetadata of the secondary copies stored in one or more secondary storagedevices. While FIG. 5 illustrates that the secondary storage computingdevice 312 may instantiate a single media agent 320, the secondarystorage computing device 312 may instantiate multiple media agents thatoperate on one or more secondary storage devices.

As the media agent 320 indexes secondary copies of the client computingdevices 306-310, the media agent 320 may generate file system data 528about the secondary copies and store the file system data 528 in themedia agent index 322. The file system data 528 may include informationabout the files, directories, and/or data structures of the file systemof the secondary copies of the client computing devices 306-310. Thefile system data 528 may further include the metadata that the mediaagent 320 generates as it indexes the secondary copies of the clientcomputing devices 306-310.

In some instances, malware and/or ransomware may be introduced into thefile system of a client computing device (e.g., client computing device306). As discussed above, the malware and/or ransomware may causeundesirable changes to the files of the client computing deviceincluding, but not limited to, file renaming, file deletion, filemodification, file encryption, file obfuscation, and other suchmodifications. Due to the sophistication of some malware and/orransomware, detecting the malware and/or ransomware in real-time and/ornear real-time may be problematic and/or challenging. The malware and/orransomware may further disguise and/or obfuscate its operations suchthat the malware and/or ransomware is not detected by the RPMA 416 ofthe client computing device 306. Accordingly, to anticipate the threatof potential malware and/or ransomware being introduced into thesecondary copies of the client computing devices 306-310, the secondarystorage computing device 312 may also be configured with the RPMA 516that monitors the secondary copies as they are created in the secondarystorage device.

The RPMA 516 may include various modules and/or components to facilitatethe monitoring of the secondary copies managed by the secondary storagecomputing device 312. In one embodiment, the modules and/or componentsinclude one or more monitoring process(es) 518 and a classifier 520. Toconfigure the operation of the modules and/or components of the RPMA516, the data 512 may include ransomware protection configuration data526 and an anomaly detection model 522.

In one embodiment, the secondary storage computing device 312 obtainsthe RPMA 516, the ransomware protection configuration data 526, and/orthe anomaly detection model 522 from the storage manager 304. Asexplained previously, the secondary storage computing device 312 may bein communication with the storage manager 304 via the network 332, andbecause the storage manager 304 is responsible for managing one or moredevices within the information management system 302, the storagemanager 304 may be granted authorization to install and/or removeapplications from the secondary storage computing device 312, includingthe RPMA 416. Similarly, the storage manager 304 may be grantedauthorization to add and/or remove data to the secondary storagecomputing device 312, including the ransomware protection configurationdata 526 and/or the anomaly detection model 522.

The RPMA 516 is configured to monitor the media agent index 322 and/orthe file system data 528 of the media agent index 322 as one or moresecondary copies of data from the client computing devices 306-310 arecreated in the secondary storage device. The ransomware protectionconfiguration data 526 may configure and/or instruct the RPMA 516 as tohow it should monitor one or more backups of the client computingdevices including, but not limited to, the number of process(es) 518 toinstantiate, the frequency of monitoring, which backups and/or types ofbackups to monitor, and so forth.

In particular, the RPMA 516 may instantiate one or more monitoringprocesses 518 to monitor the media agent index 322 and/or file systemdata 528 of the media agent index 322. The one or more monitoringprocesses 518 may be configured to determine differences betweensequential backups (e.g., sequential secondary copies) of the data ofthe client computing devices 306-310. In one embodiment, the RPMA 516instantiates a monitoring process for each client computing device to bemonitored (e.g., the secondary copies generated by a particular clientcomputing device). For example, the RPMA 516 may instantiate a firstmonitoring process to monitor changes to the file system data 528 for afirst client computing device, a second monitoring process to monitorchanges to the file system data 528 for a second client computingdevice, a third monitoring process to monitor changes to the file systemdata 528 for a third client computing device, and so forth. In thisembodiment, there may be multiple monitoring processes 418 based on thenumber of client computing devices to monitor. Additionally, and/oralternatively, the number of process(es) 518 may be based on the numberof secondary copies that the RPMA 516 is monitoring.

In another embodiment, the RPMA 516 may instantiate a single monitoringprocess 518, where the single monitoring process 518 monitors the filesystem data 528 and/or other data stored in the media agent index 322.In this embodiment, the monitoring process 518 may be responsible formonitoring for changes in the file system data for secondary copies ofmany different client computing devices, depending on which clientcomputing devices are storing secondary copies in one or more secondarystorage devices managed by the secondary storage computing device.

The monitoring process(es) 518 may be configured to monitor for one ormore different types of changes to the file system data 528 and/orchanges to other data within the media agent index 322. In oneembodiment, the monitoring process(es) 518 determine whether changeshave occurred by comparing secondary copies of backups having identicalvolumes, directories, and files. For example, the monitoring process(es)518 may compare secondary copies of the same directory, secondary copiesof the same volume, secondary copies of the same files, and so forth. Inthis manner, the monitoring process(es) 518 may compare secondary copiescorresponding to the same data. The type of changes that the monitoringprocess(es) 518 may monitor include, but are not limited to, thecreation of new data (e.g., additional files and/or additional datastructures), the modification of existing data (e.g., the editing offiles and/or data structures), the deletion of existing data (e.g., thedeletion of existing files and/or data structures), and other suchmodifications to the file system data 528 and/or indexing information ofthe media agent index 322.

The monitoring process(es) 518 may monitor and record the modificationsto the file system data 528 and/or other indexing information for one ormore pairs of compared secondary copies. In one embodiment, themonitoring process(es) 518 compare sequential secondary copies, where afirst secondary copy was created at a first time and a second secondarycopy was created at a second time, where the second time occurs afterthe first time, and the second secondary copy is the immediate secondarycopy created after the first secondary copy. In other instances, themonitoring process(es) 518 may compare secondary copies that are notsequential, but where intermediate secondary copies may have beencreated between the compared pair of secondary copies.

The one or more process(es) 518 may record the monitored changes to thefile system data 528 and/or the indexing information at one or morelocations within the information management system 302. In oneembodiment, the one or more process(es) 518 locally record the monitoredchanges in the computer-readable medium 508 of the secondary storagecomputing device 312. Additionally, and/or alternative, the one or moreprocess(es) 518 may record the monitored changes within the anomalydetection database 318. For example, after each comparison of one ormore secondary copies, the one or more process(es) 518 record thedetermined changes in the anomaly detection database 318. Further still,the monitoring process(es) 518 may communicate the monitored changes tothe storage manager 304, and the storage manager 304 may then storethese monitored changes in the anomaly detection database 316. Asdiscussed below, the storage manager 304 may access the anomalydetection database 316 to retrieve information about these modificationsto display on one or more graphical user interfaces.

It is not uncommon for different secondary copies to have a non-trivialnumber of changes or differences. Accordingly, to determine whether thechanges are the result of malware and/or ransomware, or simply from theordinary course of operation of the client computing device 306, theapplication(s) 510 may include a classifier 520 and an anomaly detectionmodel 522, where the classifier 520 and/or the anomaly detection model522 output a result indicative of whether the monitored changes and/ormodifications are from malware and/or ransomware. The classifier 520 mayoutput a probability value, an absolute value, and/or a binary valuethat the changes to the file system data 528 and/or the indexinginformation of the media agent index 322 are from operations performedby malware and/or ransomware.

As with the client computing device 306, the secondary storage computingdevice 312 may obtain the classifier 520 and/or the anomaly detectionmodel 522 from one or more sources of data, such as the storage manager304. In one embodiment, and prior to be copied to the secondary storagecomputing device 312, the anomaly detection model 522 is initiallytrained using a labeled training data set, where the labeled trainingdata set indicates which types of modifications and/or changes are fromthe ordinary course of operation of a client computing device, and whichtypes of modifications and/or changes are from the operation of malwareand/or ransomware. The training of the anomaly detection model 522 mayoccur using various types of data, various types of modifications, overone or more different time periods, and so forth. In addition, thetraining may include human verification, where the human verificationprovides feedback as to whether the one or more training data setsaccurately reflects the outcome each training data set is associatedwith.

The monitoring process(es) 518 may provide the determined and/ormonitored changes to the classifier 520 as input, where the classifier520 uses the anomaly detection model 522 to output a confidence value,probabilistic value, and/or binary value that the determined and/ormonitored changes are associated with the behavior of malware and/orransomware. The output by the classifier 520 may then be stored in theanomaly detection database 318, and then communicated to the storagemanager 304, which may then store the output in the anomaly detectiondatabase 316. In one embodiment, the classifier 520 and/or the anomalydetection model 522 are stored locally on the secondary storagecomputing device 312 so that the changes and/or modifications to thefile system data 528 can be input to the classifier 520 after adetermination is made on one or more pairs of compared secondary copies.In this embodiment, the secondary storage computing device 312 maydetermine whether a secondary copy has been affected by malware and/orransomware shortly after the secondary copy is created in a secondarystorage device managed by the secondary storage computing device. Inanother embodiment, the classifier 520 and/or the anomaly detectionmodel 522 are executed by the storage manager 304 and may be stored in astorage device local to the storage manager 304.

As with the classifier 420, the classifier 520 may output a valueindicating the type of behavior that was detected. The different typesof behaviors may have been previously trained within the anomalydetection model 522 so that the classifier 520 can readily identifyand/or determine them. Further still, the anomaly detection model 522may be updateable, so that the anomaly detection model 522 may beup-to-date with different behaviors and how they may be recognized. Theanomaly detection model 522 may be updated by the storage manager

Whether the classifier 520 is executed by the secondary storagecomputing device 312, the storage manager 304, or another distinctcomputing device not specifically illustrated, the classifier 520 caninform an operator or administrator of the information management system302 as to whether secondary copies managed or accessible by the mediaagent 320 have been affected by malware and/or ransomware. In oneembodiment, the storage manager 304 notifies the administrator oroperator of the information management system 302 via one or morecommunication channels, such as an e-mail, text message, an automatedphone call, or combinations of the foregoing. In addition, the storagemanager 304 may display the behaviors detected by the classifier on agraphical user interface that the administrator or operator may use tointeract with the various devices of the information management system302, and implement a solution to address the potentially infected clientcomputing device.

FIG. 6 illustrates a graphical user interface 602 for displaying anoverview of anomaly detection information provided by the storagemanager 304 of the information management system 302 of FIG. 3,according to an example embodiment. The graphical user interface 602 maybe displayed using one or more different types of applicationsincluding, but not limited to, a web-based application, a programmaticor standalone application, or combinations thereof.

The graphical user interface 602 may include multiple windows or panels604-626, where each panel allows a user of the application to interactwith the application or provide information relating to the informationmanagement system 302. The information sources for the panels 604-626may be provided by one or more devices and/or components in theinformation management system 302, such as the storage manager 304, thesecondary storage computing device 312, the anomaly detection database316, the anomaly detection database 318, the virtual machine host 314,one or more client computing devices 306-310, one or more of the virtualmachines 326-330, and any other such device or component in theinformation management system 302.

In one embodiment, the graphical user interface 602 includes an overviewpanel 604, where the overview panel includes multiple panels 606-624.The overview panel 604 provides an overview of the informationmanagement system 302 and allows a user interacting with the graphicaluser interface 602 to view specific information about the informationmanagement system 302.

The panels 606-624 also include an environment panel 606. Theenvironment panel 606 provides information about the computingenvironment of the information management system 302. The informationabout the computing environment may include the number and/or types ofall devices used in the information management system 302, the numberand/or types of active (e.g., online) devices, the number and/or typesof inactive (e.g., offline) devices, the number of total users in theinformation management system 302, the number of active (e.g., online)users, the number of inactive (e.g., offline) users, and other suchinformation.

The overview panel 604 may further include an attention panel 608, wherethe attention panel 608 identifies whether entities used and/orcomputing activities occurring in the information management system 302require attention from a user, administrator, or operator of theinformation management system 302. An entity may be any device and/orcomponent used in the information management system 302. A computingactivity may be any software- and/or hardware-based activity occurringwithin the information management system 302. Examples of the entitiesinclude the storage manager 304, the secondary storage computing device312, the one or more client computing devices 306-310, and other suchdevices. Examples of computing activities include the backup jobs beingperformed, network transfers occurring between one or more of thedevices in the information management system 302, uploads and/ordownloads that are occurring, reads from and/or writes to one or morestorage devices within the information management system 302, and othersuch computing activities. The attention panel 608 may be alsocustomizable such that the attention panel 608 may display anycombination of the foregoing entities and/or computing activities withinthe information management system 302.

The overview panel 604 may further display an SLA panel 610, where theSLA panel 610 displays information about the service-level provided bythe information management system 302. In one embodiment, the storagemanager 304 provides the information for the SLA panel 610. For example,the storage manager 304 may obtain the information for the SLA panel 610from one or more database sources within the information managementsystem 302, such as the management database 146 (not shown in FIG. 3).

In addition, the overview panel 604 may include an unusual activitypanel 612, where the unusual activity panel 612 displays informationabout unusual activity detected within one or more monitored devices ofthe information management system 302. In one embodiment, the unusualactivity panel 612 is populated after one or more devices within theinformation management system 302 have determined that there is unusualfile system activity occurring on a monitored device (e.g., one or moreof the client computing devices 306-310, the secondary storage computingdevice 312, a secondary storage device, etc.). In one embodiment, when adevice determines that there is unusual activity occurring, the devicereports the occurrence of the unusual activity to the storage manager304, which may populate the anomaly detection database 316 accordingly.The information from the anomaly detection database 316 may then bepopulated into the unusual detection panel 612. For example, the storagemanager 304 may provide the information from the anomaly detectiondatabase 316 for the unusual activity panel 612. As another example, acomputing device on which the unusual activity panel 612 is displayedmay be granted access to obtain the information from the anomalydetection database 316. In either example, the unusual activity panel612 displays information about anomalous activity that is occurring onone or more of the monitored devices within the information managementsystem 302. As shown in FIG. 6, the unusual activity panel 612 showsthat there are two devices out of 45 monitored devices that areexhibiting anomalous activity within the information management system302.

The overview panel 604 further includes a jobs status panel 614 thatprovides status information for one or more computing activitiesoccurring within the information management system 302. In oneembodiment, the jobs status panel 614 provides information and thestatus of one or more backup jobs that are occurring and/or haveoccurred within the information management system 302. The job statusinformation may be provided by one or more devices within theinformation management system 302, such as the storage manager 304, thesecondary storage computing device 312, the virtual machine host 314,and/or any of the devices within the information management system 302.

In addition, the overview panel 604 includes a health status panel 616that provides alerts and/or warnings about the computing health of oneor more of the monitored devices within the information managementsystem 302. The health information for the health status panel 616 maybe obtained from one or more of the devices within the informationmanagement system 302 such as the storage manager 304, the secondarystorage computing device 312, the virtual machine host 314, and/or anyof the other devices.

Furthermore, the overview panel 604 may display a current capacity panel618 that indicates the storage capacity of a particular computing deviceof the information management system 302. For example, a user of thegraphical user interface 602 may select a computing device, such asclient computing device 306 of various devices within the informationmanagement system 302. The current capacity panel 618 may displayavailable free space, total storage space, currently used space, andother such storage information for the particular computing device.

The overview panel 604 may also display a disk space panel 620 thatdisplays disk space information for one or more of the computing deviceswithin the information management system 302. In one embodiment, thedisk space panel 620 displays disk space information accessible and/orusable for various file servers and/or managing servers within theinformation management system 302, such as the secondary storagecomputing device 312 and/or the storage manager 304. The disk spacepanel 620 may display available disk space, total disk space, used diskspace, an expected calendar date when a particular disk and/or volume isexpected to be full, and other such disk space information. The diskspace information may be provided by the one or more file servers and/ormanaging servers within the information management system 302.

The overview panel 604 may further display a server panel 622, where theserver panel 622 displays a predetermined number of clients havingapplication sizes that are the largest relative to the application sizesof other clients within the information management system 302. In oneembodiment, the predetermined number is the value five, such that theserver panel 622 displays the top five clients have the largestapplication sizes within the information management system 302. Thepredetermined number may be configurable by an operator or anadministrator of the information management system 302.

Additionally, the overview panel 604 may display a storage panel 624that displays the size of the disk library used by the client computingdevices of the information management system 302. In one embodiment, thestorage panel 624 displays the amount of space used for secondary copiesof primary data and/or file system data of the one or more clientcomputing devices 306-310. In addition, the storage panel 624 maydisplay an amount of storage space that has been saved by using one ormore secondary operations on the secondary copies, where secondaryoperations include such operations as compression, encryption,deduplication, and so forth. As shown in FIG. 6, the informationmanagement system 302 has saved 98.77% of secondary storage space byusing one or more of the secondary operations on the secondary copiesmanaged by the secondary storage computing device 312.

Finally, the graphical user interface 602 may include a menu panel 626,where the menu panel 626 allows a user of the graphical user interface602 to navigate among the different panels of information. The menupanel 626 may include one or more menu options that a user may select,and a selection of a menu option causing a corresponding change in thegraphical user interface 602 to display the panel associated with theselected menu option (e.g., selecting the “JOBS” menu option will causethe graphical user interface 602 to display a jobs panel).

Turning next to FIG. 7, is an illustration of a graphical user interface702 that displays client computing devices having detected anomalies intheir file system data and/or primary data, according to an exampleembodiment. The graphical user interface 702 may be displayed inresponse to a user selecting a “PROTECT” menu option from the menu panel626, and then selecting an “UNUSUAL ACTIVITY” sub-menu option.

In one embodiment, the graphical user interface 702 displays an unusualactivity panel 704, where the unusual activity panel 704 displaysunusual activity that has been detected for one or more of the clientcomputing devices of the information management system 302. Theinformation displayed in the unusual activity panel 704 may correspondto the unusual activity panel 612. The information shown in the unusualactivity panel 704 may be obtained from one or more sources ofinformation, such as the anomaly detection database 316 and/or theanomaly detection database 318.

As discussed above, the classifier 420 may have determined that aparticular client computing device was exhibiting anomalous activity ona real-time or near real-time basis and reported such determination tothe storage manager 304, or the classifier 520 may have determined thata particular client computing device was exhibiting anomalous activitybased on comparison of sequential backups and reported suchdetermination to the storage manager 304. Regardless of the specificimplementation (e.g., real-time basis or a comparison of sequentialbackups, the information shown in the unusual activity panel 704 may beobtained from the anomaly detection database 316 and/or the anomalydetection database 318.

In one embodiment, the unusual activity panel displays a client table706, where the client table 706 displays client computing devices withinthe information management system 302 that have been detected asdemonstrating unusual or anomalous activity. The columns of the clienttable 706 may include, but are not limited to, a client name column 708,an anomaly type column 710, a created files column 712, a renamed filescolumn 714, a deleted files column 716, a modified files column 718, anda detected time column 720. The client table 706 may also includegraphical elements 722-724 which, when selected, cause a particularaction to occur.

The client name column 708 displays the assigned names of clientcomputing devices for which anomalous activity has been detected. Asshown in FIG. 7, the client name column 708 displays two client namesfor client computing devices that have been reported as having anomalousor unusual activity, namely, “CVDV3N287” and “MABRIS.” The namesdisplayed in the client name column 708 may correspond to particularclient computing devices, such as client computing device 306 and clientcomputing device 308.

The anomaly type column 710 displays a determined anomaly typecorresponding to the anomalous activity of a particular client computingdevice. In the example shown in FIG. 7, the client computing devicenamed “CVDV3N287” was exhibiting behavior corresponding to “MANY FILESWERE DELETED AND MODIFIED” and the client computing device named“MABRIS” was exhibiting behavior corresponding to “MANY FILES WEREDELETED.” The anomaly type populated in the anomaly type column 710 mayhave been previously determined by the classifier 420 and/or theclassifier 520, where the determined anomaly type was then stored in theanomaly detection database 316 and/or the anomaly detection database318.

The created files column 712 may indicate the number of files that werecreated in the time period in which the classifier 420 detected theanomaly or suspicious behavior. Similarly, the renamed files column 714,the deleted files column 716, and the modified files column 718 may eachindicate, respectively, the number of files renamed, the number of filesdeleted, and the number of files modified during the time period inwhich the classifier 420 detected the anomaly or suspicious behavior. Inthe event that the values shown in each of the columns 712-718 wereprovided by the classifier 520, the values may represent the differencesbetween sequential backups that were compared by the classifier 520.Regardless of whether the values were determined by the classifier 420or the classifier 520, the values indicate the type of anomaly orsuspicious behavior that was detected and reflect the anomaly typeindicated in the anomaly type column 710.

The detected time column 720 indicates the time and/or date at which theanomalous or suspicious behavior by the client computing device wasdetected. The value of the detected time column 720 may correspond tothe time and/or date at which one or more of the monitoring process(es)418 first detected a particular activity (e.g., a file rename, a filedeletion, a file modification, etc.), to the time and/or date at whichthe classifier 420 and/or the classifier 520 determined that theactivity was anomalous, the time and/or date at which activity relatingto one or more files was determined to be anomalous or suspicious, orany other similar time and/or date value. The detected time column 720provides an approximate indication as to the time and/or date when theanomalous and/or suspicious activity was detected, and helps the userinvestigate the possible source of the malware and/or ransomware.

The unusual activity panel 704 also includes a first graphical element,namely a virtualization option 722, and a second graphical element,namely a clear option 724, that are selectable by a user of thegraphical user interface 702. The virtualization option 722 allows auser to virtualize one or more of the client computing devices displayedin the client table 706. More particularly, a user may select a clientcomputing device from a client name column 708, and then may select thevirtualization option 722 to virtualize the selected client computingdevice. As discussed above, virtualizing a selected client computingdevice may include instantiating a virtual machine with virtual hardwaresimilar to the selected client computing device, and then restoring asecondary copy of the primary data of the client computing device to thenewly instantiated virtual machine. The process of virtualizing theclient computing device may start when the user selects thevirtualization option 722, and the virtual machine host 314 may informthe storage manager 304 when the virtual machine host 314 hasinstantiated the virtual machine, and has restored primary data to theinstantiated virtual machine from a secondary copy managed by thesecondary storage computing device 312.

The clear option 724 allows a user to reset and/or remove the anomalousbehavior from the unusual activity panel 704. In one embodiment,selecting the clear option 724 instructs the storage manager 304 toindicate that anomalous activity associated with a currently selectedclient computing device (e.g., a client computing device selected fromthe client table 706) is not to be displayed in future displays of theunusual activity panel 704. In one embodiment, selecting a clientcomputing device and then selecting the clear option 724 may instructthe storage manager 304 to flag or otherwise indicate in the anomalydetection database 316 that the currently displayed anomalousinformation associated with a selected client computing device is not tobe displayed in the unusual activity panel 704. In another embodiment,selecting the clear option 724 may instruct the storage manager 304 todelete the anomalous information from the anomaly detection database 316associated with the currently selected client computing device. Thisembodiment may result in the removal or deletion of the anomalousinformation stored in the anomaly detection database 316 associated withthe selected client computing device, and thus, will not appear infuture displays in the unusual activity panel 704. Furthermore, to clearthe anomalous activity displayed in the unusual activity panel 704, thegraphical user interface 702 may display a further prompt (not shown)requesting confirmation that the user wishes to proceed with the removalof the anomalous information.

FIG. 8 illustrates a graphical user interface 802 that displays agraphical map 804 of the geographical locations 806-808 of clientcomputing devices having detected anomalies, according to an exampleembodiment. The graphical user interface 802 may be displayed inresponse to selecting one or more of the client computing devices fromthe unusual activity panel 704. In one embodiment, the graphical map 804identifies approximate locations of the client computing devices thatwere determined to have unusual activity. As shown in FIG. 8, one clientcomputing device is approximately located at a first geographicallocation 806 and another client computing device is approximatelylocated at a second geographical location 808. The geographicallocations of the client computing devices may be approximated based oninformation communicated by the client computing devices included, butnot limited, to a set of Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates,one or more Internet Protocol (IP) addresses that have been geolocated,one or more wired and/or wireless networks that are known to beassociated with a particular geographical location, or other suchinformation. By showing the geographical locations of which clientcomputing devices are experiencing unusual activity, an administrator oroperator of the information management system 302 can better understandwhether a malware and/or ransomware has affected a particular set ofclient computing devices (e.g., a particular geographical region) and,if such client computing devices are affected, whether the impact of themalware and/or ransomware has spread to other client computing devicesin other geographical locations (e.g., other states, other countries,other provinces, other cities, etc.). Understanding the scope of theimpact using the graphical map 804 can help the operator oradministrator of the information management system 302 better plan asolution for addressing the spread and/or impact of the malware and/orransomware.

FIG. 9 illustrates a graphical user interface 902 displaying specificanomaly detection information for a particular client computing device,according to an example embodiment. The graphical user interface 902 maydisplay an activity summary panel 904 and an affected folders panel 906.With reference to FIG. 7, the graphical user interface 902 may bedisplayed in response to selecting one or more of the client computingdevices displayed in the client table 706. Although shown as occupying apredominant portion of the graphical user interface 902, the activitysummary panel 904 may be shown overlaid the client table 706 or as asidebar menu similar to the manner in which the menu panel 626 isdisplayed.

The activity summary panel 904 displays an activity summary for theunusual activity and/or suspicious activity for a selecting clientcomputing device. As shown in FIG. 8, the activity summary panel 904 maydisplay information similar to the information shown in the client table706. For example, the activity summary panel 904 may display an anomalytype (e.g., “MANY FILES WERE DELETED”), a number of renamed files (e.g.,“80”), a number of modified files (“800”), a number of created files(“81”), a number of deleted files (“8000”), and a detected time (e.g.,“Nov. 21, 2020 02:01:35 AM”). The values displayed in the activitysummary panel 904 may be provided by the same source of information thatpopulated the client table 706, such as the storage manager 304, theanomaly detection database 316, the anomaly detection database 318, orcombinations thereof.

The affected folders panel 906 displays more granular information thanthe information displayed in the activity summary panel 904. Moreparticularly, the affected folders panel 906 may include a pathsub-panel 906A and a files sub-panel 906B. The path sub-panel 906Adisplays the affected folders and/or directories of the selected clientcomputing device associated with the anomaly type shown in the activitysummary panel 904. In one embodiment, the folders and/or directoriesdisplayed in the path sub-panel 906A may include folders and/ordirectories where an activity occurred, whether the activity was a filerenaming, a file modification, a file creation, or a file deletion. Inanother embodiment, the folders and/or directories displayed in the pathsub-panel 906A include only those folders and/or directories that wereaffected by the identified anomaly type. As an example, in thisalternative embodiment, if the identified anomaly type was “MANY FILESWERE DELETED,” the path sub-panel 906A displays only those foldersand/or directories where a file deletion occurred.

In one embodiment, the path sub-panel 906A displays a predeterminednumber of folders and/or directories (e.g., four, five, and/or sixfolders and/or directories). Where the number of affected folders and/ordirectories is greater than the predetermined number, the path sub-panel906A may be scrollable or may be expanded to display any additionalfolders and/or sub-directories that were affected. Furthermore, thepredetermined number may initially have a default value (e.g., four,five, six, etc.), where the administrator and/or operator of theinformation management system 302 may then change the predeterminednumber.

The files sub-panel 906B shows the number of affected files for acorresponding folder or directory shown in the path sub-panel 906A,where the number corresponds to one or more of the activities shown inthe activity summary panel 904. In one embodiment, the number ofaffected files displays comprises a value representing a summation ofall the files within a particular folder or directory associated withone or more activities. As an example, in this embodiment, the value of“2415” shown in the files sub-panel 906B may indicate that 2415 fileswere renamed, modified, created, and/or deleted. In another embodiment,the number of affected files comprises a value representing only thosefiles that were affected by a particular activity. As an example, inthis embodiment, the value of “2415” shown in the files sub-panel 906Bmay indicate that 2415 files in the folder or directory were deleted(e.g., the activity that corresponds to the detected activity of “MANYFILES WERE DELETED”). As another example, if the detected or determinedactivity was “MANY FILES WERE RENAMED,” the value of 2415 may representthat 2415 files were renamed within a particular folder or directory. Inthis manner, the graphical user interface 902 can provide detailedinformation about specific files and/or folders for a selected clientcomputing device, which can assist in the administrator or operator ofthe information management system 302 in developing a solution toaddress the potential malware and/or ransomware.

FIGS. 10A-10B illustrate a graphical user interface 1002 that displaygraphs of detected changes in a particular client computing device,according to example embodiments. In one embodiment, the graphical userinterface 1002 displays a graph 1018 of activity for the particularclient computing device, and an unusual activity table 1004 thatdisplays activity information for particular files and/or directoriesthat were affected by the detected or determined activity.

Referring first to the graph 1018, the graph 1018 may display the numberof files that were affected by one or more activities over apredetermined period of time within one or more folders or directories.For example, the graph 1018 may be configured to display a graph ofactivities over a selectable period of time, where the selectable periodof time is selectable and/or configurable by an administrator oroperator of the information management system 302. The period of timemay be selected from one or more values including, but not limited to, aday (e.g., a 24-hour time period), a week, a month, six months, a year,and so forth. The period of time may also include incremental orconfigurable values, such that the administrator or operator may inputany increment of time (e.g., three days), which would then be displayedin the graph 1018.

Each line of the graph 1018 may be associated with a particular activitythat occurred with the selected client computing device. As shown inFIG. 10A, a first line of the graph 1018 is associated withmodifications to the files of the client computing device, and a secondline of the graph 1018 is associated with deletions of files of theclient computing device. In addition, each point on each line of thegraph 1018 may represent an activity for folder or directory accessibleby the client computing device. The values displayed in the graph 1018may be provided by one or more sources of information including, but notlimited to, the storage manager 304, the anomaly detection database 316,the anomaly detection database 318, or combinations thereof.

The unusual activity table 1004 of the graphical user interface 1002 mayshow the folders or directories of a selected computing device that wereaffected by a particular activity and the number of files within afolder or directory that were affected by a particular activity. In oneembodiment, the unusual activity table 1004 includes five columns suchas a path column 1006, a created files column 1008, a renamed filescolumn 1010, a deleted files column 1012, a modified files column 1014,and a detected time column 1016. The values of each of the columns1008-1014 may be similar to the values displayed in the files sub-panel906B. Using the path column 1006, a user of the graphical user interface1002 may select a particular folder or directory to browse and/orexplore (discussed with reference to FIGS. 11A-11B), which allows theuser to restore and/or download a particular file or directory that wasaffected by the detected activity.

FIG. 10B also illustrates the graphical user interface 1002, where auser has selected a particular folder or directory to browse andexplore. As shown in FIG. 10B, a single directory has been selected but,in another examples, a user may select multiple folders or directoriesto browse and/or explore. By selecting a selectable option in theunusual activity table 1004, labeled “BROWSE” in FIG. 10B, a user of thegraphical user interface 1002 may browse and/or explore the selected oneor more folders or directories.

FIGS. 11A-11B illustrate a graphical user interface 1102 that isdisplayed in response to selecting the “BROWSE” selectable option ofFIGS. 10A-10 ft according to an example embodiment. In one embodiment,the graphical user interface 1102 displays a directory structure 1104 ofa selected directory of a client computing device. The directorystructure 1104 displays a directory hierarchy of a folder or directorystructure of the client computing device. The directory structure 1104may initially display a root directory for the selected folder ordirectory, where the directory structure 1104 includes a graphicalelement (e.g., an arrow, button, addition symbol, etc.), that allows theuser to expand and traverse the directory corresponding to the directorystructure 1104. An example of expanding the directory structure 1104 isdiscussed with reference to FIG. 11B.

Furthermore, the directory structure 1104 may include one or moredirectories that have been backed up to a secondary storage device. Thegraphical user interface 1102 may be configured to display one or moreversions of a backed up file and/or directory. In one embodiment, thegraphical user interface 1102 displays a most recent backup of theselected directory of the client computing device. A user knows that thegraphical user interface 1102 is displaying a most recent backup becausethe graphical user interface 1102 is labeled with “SHOWING LATESTBACKUP.” Further still, a user may select another backup stored in thesecondary storage device to view and/or restore by interacting with thegraphical user interface 1102. For example, a user interacting with thegraphical user interface 1102 may view a backup of a file and/ordirectory the client computing device from one version prior to thecurrent version, two versions prior to the current version, and soforth. In this fashion, a user may view prior backups of files and/ordirectories of the client computing device that occurred earlier intime, and may have been created prior to the current backup of the filesand/or directories of the client computing device.

The graphical user interface 1102 also displays several columns1106-1112 that identify the changes and/or activities detected by themonitoring process(es) 418 and/or determined by the classifier 420 orclassifier 520. In one embodiment, the columns 1106-1112 include a namecolumn 1106, a change column 1108, a size column 1110, and amodification date column 1112. Additional or alternative columns may bedisplayed, such as a permission column that displays the filepermissions for a particular file or directory permissions for aparticular directory, an ownership column that displays the data ownerfor a particular file or directory, and other such columns orcombinations thereof. The columns 1106-1112 that are displayed may beconfigurable by the administrator and/or operator of the informationmanagement system 302.

The name column 1106 displays the name of a directory or file affectedby a detected activity. As shown in FIG. 11A, the name column 1106displays a directory named “USERS” that is present in the directorystructure 1104. The change column 1108 identifies the changes that weredetermined and/or detected by the monitoring process(es) 418, theclassifier 420, and/or the classifier 520. In FIG. 11A, the changecolumn 1108 indicates that there were files modified and/or deletedwithin the directory named “USERS”. The size column 1110 indicates asize of a corresponding directory named in the name column 1106.Finally, the modification date column 1112 indicates the time and/ordate on which the corresponding directory in the name column 1106 wasmodified. The values for each of the columns may be obtained from one ormore sources of information including, but not limited to, the storagemanager 304, the anomaly detection database 316, and/or the anomalydetection database 318.

The graphical user interface 1102 also includes two graphical elements1114-1116, namely, a restore option 1114 and a download option 1116. Therestore option 114 allows a user of the graphical user interface 1102 torestore a selected file or directory to the corresponding clientcomputing device. In one embodiment, selecting the restore option 1114causes the storage manager 304 to instruct the secondary storagecomputing device 312 to restore a secondary copy of the selected file ordirectory from a secondary storage device (not shown). In addition, ifthere more than one secondary copies of the selected file or directorystored in the secondary storage device (e.g. various backups of theselected file or directory made at various times), the storage manager304 may instruct the secondary storage computing device 312 to provide alisting of the secondary copies, and the user of the graphical userinterface 1102 may then select which of the secondary copies to restoreto the corresponding client computing device.

The download option 1116 allows a user of the graphical user interface1102 to download a secondary copy of the selected file or directory. Incontrast to the restore option 1114, the download option 1116 may causea secondary copy of the selected file or directory to be downloaded tothe device being used by the user to display the graphical userinterface 1102 rather than restore to the selected file or directory tothe corresponding client computing device. The download option 1116 maybe preferable where the user prefers not to restore the selected file ordirectory to the client computing device, but still wants to obtain acopy of the selected file or directory.

FIG. 11B further illustrates the graphical user interface 1102 of FIG.11A where the directory structure 1104 has been expanded, according toan example embodiment. In the illustration shown in FIG. 11B, a user hasexpanded the directory structure 1104 to a sub-directory named“DOWNLOADS”. A user may understand that the “DOWNLOADS” directory is asub-directory because it appears indented and underneath anotherdirectory named “JTORPHY,” which is a sub-directory of the directorynamed “USERS.” The name column 1106 indicates that several files withinthe “DOWNLOADS” sub-directory were deleted, such as a file named “EC,” afile named “SCRIPTS,” a file named “GALAXY.JNLP,” and a file named“README”. By selecting one or more of the files and/or directories shownin the name column 1106, a user may use the restore option 1114 torestore one or more of the selected files or directories. The selectedfiles and/or directories may be restored to the client computing device.Similarly, by selecting one or more of the files and/or directoriesshown in the name column 1106, a user may use the download option 1116to download one or more of the selected files and/or directories. Usingthe download option 1116, a user may download the selected files and/ordirectories to a location and/or device other than the client computingdevice from which from the secondary copies were created. Using thedownload option 1116 may be preferred over using the restore option 1114in cases where the client computing device from which the secondarycopies were made is not available or the client computing device hasbecome comprised (e.g., infected with malware and/or ransomware).

FIGS. 12A-12C illustrate a method 1202, in accordance with an exampleembodiment, for monitoring file system data and/or primary data of aclient computing device for potential anomalies in the file system dataand/or primary data on a real-time or near real-time basis. The method1202 may be implemented by one or more of the devices and/or componentsillustrated in FIGS. 3-5. FIGS. 12A-12C are discussed relative to theclient computing device 306, but one of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate that the below discussion may also be applied to otherdevices within the information management system 302 including, but notlimited to, the storage manager 304, the secondary storage computingdevice 312, the virtual machine host 314, and any one of the virtualmachines 326-330.

Referring initially to FIG. 12A, the anomaly detection model may betrained using one or more sets of training data (Operation 1204). Theanomaly detection model may be trained by the storage manager 304 or itmay be trained by another computing device in communication with theinformation management system 302. As discussed previously, the trainingdata for training the anomaly detection model may include a labeledtraining data set, where the labeled training data set indicates whichtypes of modifications and/or changes are from the innocuous or normaloperation of a client computing device, and which types of modificationsand/or changes are from the operation of malware and/or ransomware. Thetraining of the anomaly detection model may occur using various types ofdata, various types of modifications, over one or more different timeperiods, and so forth. Furthermore, different types of training datasets may be used for different anomaly detection models, depending onwhether the anomaly detection model is for evaluating modificationsand/or changes on a client computing device that are occurring inreal-time or near real-time, or for evaluating modifications and/orchanges between backup copies of primary data of the client computingdevice. By using different types of training data sets, different typesof anomaly detection models can be developed and deployed to differentdevices throughout the information management system 302.

After training, the anomaly detection model may then be transferred to aclient computing device (e.g., client computing device 306) (Operation1206). The storage manager 304 may “push” (e.g., initiate a transfer of)the anomaly detection model to the client computing device 306, wherethe client computing device 306 stores the anomaly detection model asthe anomaly detection model 422. In addition, the storage manager 304may push the RPMA 416 to the client computing device 306 at or about thesame time as the storage manager 304 transfers the anomaly detectionmodel 422 to the client computing device 306. Furthermore, the storagemanager 304 may provide ransomware protection configuration data 426 tothe client computing device 306 that configures the RPMA 416 to monitorthe client computing device 306 and/or detect malware and/or ransomwarethat may have infected it. In other instances, a user or operator of theclient computing device 306 may download and/or install the RPMA 416and/or the anomaly detection model 422 on the client computing device306.

After the anomaly detection model 422 and/or the RPMA 416 are installedon the client computing device 306, the client computing device 306instantiates the RPMA 416 to protect the client computing device 306from modifications and/or changes by malware and/or ransomware(Operation 1208). Once instantiated, the RPMA 416 may initiate one ormore monitoring process(es) 418 to monitor for changes and/ormodifications to the file system data 424 and/or primary data 428(Operation 1210). After executing the one or more monitoring process(es)418, the monitoring process(es) 418 monitor the client computing device206 according to the ransomware protection configuration data 426(Operation 1212), which may include monitoring the file system data 424and/or the primary data 428.

In one embodiment, the monitoring process(es) 418 monitor for changes tothe client computing device 306 according to a predetermined timeperiod. Referring to FIG. 12B, the RPMA 416 determines whether that timeperiod has elapsed (Operation 1214). Where the RPMA 416 determines thatthe time period has elapsed (e.g., the “YES” branch of Operation 1214),the method 1202 proceeds to Operation 1216. Where the RPMA 416determines that the time period has not elapsed (e.g., the “NO” branchof Operation 1216), the method 1202 may return to Operation 1212 of FIG.12A, where the monitoring process(es) 418 continue to monitor forchanges to the file system data 424 and/or primary data 428.

With regard to Operation 1216, the classifier 420 may determine whetherthe changes and/or modifications detected by the monitoring process(es)418 represent anomalous behavior. For example, the monitoringprocess(es) 418 may record the detected modifications and/or changes tothe client computing device 306 in one or more data structures, and theclassifier 420 may read from these data structures to obtain therecorded modifications and/or changes. Using the detected modificationsand/or changes to the client computing device 306, the classifier 420may reference the anomaly detection model 422 to determine whether thedetected modifications and/or changes represent anomalous and/ormalicious behavior (Operation 1218).

Where the classifier 420 determines that anomalous behavior is occurringand/or has occurred (e.g., the “YES” branch of Operation 1218), themethod 1202 proceeds to Operation 1220, where the anomaly detectionmodel 422 provides an indication or output of the type of anomalousbehavior that was detected. Where the classifier 420 determines thatanomalous behavior did not occur (e.g., the “NO” branch of Operation1218), the method 1202 returns to Operation 1212 of FIG. 12A, where themonitoring process(es) 418 continue to monitor for changes to the filesystem data 424 and/or primary data 428.

At Operation 1220, the classifier 420 determines the type of anomalousbehavior that occurred and/or is occurring (Operation 1220). Aspreviously discussed with regard to FIG. 4, the classifier 420 mayoutput a value indicating the type of behavior that was detected.

Turning to FIG. 12C, the RPMA 416 may then communicate the detectedchanges and/or modifications and the determined anomaly type to thestorage manager 304 (Operation 1222). In one embodiment, the storagemanager 304 stores this information in the anomaly detection database316, where this information may be later retrieved in displaying one ormore of the graphical user interfaces discussed with reference to FIGS.6-10B. Further still, depending on the type of anomaly detected, thestorage manager 304 may automatically initiate virtualization of theclient computing device in which the anomaly was detected (e.g., via thevirtual machine host 314), and then place the affected client computingdevice into an offline state or prohibit the affected client computingdevice from being part of the information management system 302 (e.g.,by placing the media access control address of the affected clientcomputing device on a blacklist). As shown in FIG. 12C, the storagemanager 304 may further generate an alert of the detected anomaly(Operation 1224), and the alert may be communicated to the operatorand/or administrator of the information management system 302 via one ormore communication channels (e.g., SMS, e-mail, phone call, etc.). Wherethe generated alert is communicated via SMS and/or e-mail, the generatedalert may further include a hyperlink to web-based command center (e.g.,the software illustrated in FIGS. 6-10B), where the administrator and/oroperator can learn more about the detected anomaly and take remedialmeasures on the affected data (Operation 1226).

FIGS. 13A-13C illustrate a method 1302, in accordance with an exampleembodiment, for determining whether file system anomalies exist betweenbackups of a client computing device (e.g., client computing device306). The method 1302 may be implemented by one or more of the devicesand/or components illustrated in FIGS. 3-5. FIGS. 13A-13C are discussedrelative to the secondary storage computing device 312, but one ofordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the below discussion mayalso be applied to other devices within the information managementsystem 302 including, but not limited to, the storage manager 304, oneor more of the client computing devices 306-310, the virtual machinehost 314, and any one of the virtual machines 326-330.

Referring initially to FIG. 13A, the anomaly detection model may betrained using one or more sets of training data (Operation 1304). Theanomaly detection model may be trained by the storage manager 304 or itmay be trained by another computing device in communication with theinformation management system 302. As discussed previously, the trainingdata for training the anomaly detection model may include a labeledtraining data set, where the labeled training data set indicates whichtypes of modifications and/or changes are from the innocuous or normaloperation of a client computing device, and which types of modificationsand/or changes are from the operation of malware and/or ransomware. Thetraining of the anomaly detection model may occur using various types ofdata, various types of modifications, over one or more different timeperiods, and so forth. Furthermore, different types of training datasets may be used for different anomaly detection models, depending onwhether the anomaly detection model is for evaluating modificationsand/or changes on a client computing device that are occurring inreal-time or near real-time, or for evaluating modifications and/orchanges between backup copies of primary data of the client computingdevice. By using different types of training data sets, different typesof anomaly detection models can be developed and deployed to differentdevices throughout the information management system 302.

After training, the anomaly detection model may then be transferred to asecondary storage computing device (e.g., secondary storage computingdevice 312) (Operation 1306). The storage manager 304 may “push” (e.g.,initiate a transfer of) the anomaly detection model to the secondarystorage computing device 312, where the secondary storage computingdevice 312 stores the anomaly detection model as the anomaly detectionmodel 522. In addition, the storage manager 304 may push the RPMA 516 tothe client computing device 306 at or about the same time as the storagemanager 304 transfers the anomaly detection model 422 to the clientcomputing device 306. Furthermore, the storage manager 304 may provideransomware protection configuration data 526 to the secondary storagecomputing device 312 that configures the RPMA 516 to monitor the backupsof the client computing devices, and detect malware and/or ransomwarethat may have infected one or more of the backups. In other instances, auser or operator of the secondary storage computing device 312 maydownload and/or install the RPMA 516 and/or the anomaly detection model522.

After the anomaly detection model 522 and/or the RPMA 516 are installedon the secondary storage computing device 312, the secondary storagecomputing device 312 instantiates the RPMA 516 to monitor for potentialmalware and/or ransomware in one or more backups of the client computingdevices 306-312 (Operation 1310). Once instantiated, the RPMA 516 mayinitiate one or more monitoring process(es) 518 to monitor for changes(e.g., differences) between one or more backups of a client computingdevice (Operation 1312). After executing the one or more monitoringprocess(es) 518, the monitoring process(es) 518 monitor for new backupscreated by the client computing devices, and may compare the filemodifications and/or changes between the new backups created by theclient computing devices, and corresponding prior backups that werepreviously created.

In one embodiment, the monitoring process(es) 518 monitor for changesbackups of the client computing devices 306-312 in response to a newbackup being created in a secondary storage device (not shown).Referring to FIG. 13B, the RPMA 516 determines whether a new backup hasbeen created (Operation 1314). Where the RPMA 516 determines that a newbackup has been created (e.g., the “YES” branch of Operation 1314), themethod 1302 proceeds to Operation 1316. Where a new backup has not beencreated (e.g., the “NO” branch of Operation 1316), the method 1302 mayreturn to Operation 1312 of FIG. 13A, where the monitoring process(es)518 continue to monitor for new backups created in the secondary storagedevice.

At Operation 1316, the monitoring process(es) 518 determine differencesbetween the newly created backup and a prior corresponding backup (e.g.,an earlier version of a backup). As discussed previously, the monitoringprocess(es) 518 may reference the media agent index 322 and/or the filesystem data 528 stored by the media agent index 322 to determine thesedifferences. In another embodiment, the differences are already recordedin the media agent index 322 (e.g., the differences are recorded at thetime the newly created backup is stored in the secondary storagedevice).

At Operation 1318, the classifier 520 may determine whether the changesand/or modifications detected by the monitoring process(es) 418represent anomalous behavior. In one embodiment, the detecteddifferences between corresponding backups is input to the classifier520, which then determines whether the determined differences representanomalous behavior and, if so, the type of behavior (Operation 1318).The classifier 520 may determine whether differences in the backupsindicate anomalous activity by using the determined differences as inputto the anomaly detection model 522, which then outputs an indication orvalue indicating whether the determined differences indicate anomalousactivity.

Accordingly, at Operation 1320, where the classifier 420 determines thatthere is anomalous activity in the differences between backups (e.g.,the “YES” branch of Operation 1320), the method 1302 proceeds toOperation 1322 on FIG. 13C. Where the classifier 520 determines thatthere is no anomaly in the difference between backups (e.g., the “NO”branch of Operation 1320), the method 1302 returns to Operation 1312 ofFIG. 13A, where the monitoring process(es) 518 continue to monitor fornew backups of the client computing devices 306-312.

At Operation 1322, the classifier 520 determines the type of anomalousbehavior based on the determined differences of the backups (Operation1322). As previously discussed with regard to FIG. 5, the classifier 520may output a value indicating the type of behavior that was detectedbased on the anomaly detection model 522. The types of behaviorsinclude, but is not limited to, that a large number of files weredeleted, a large number of files were created, a large number of fileswere modified, a large number of files were encrypted, and so forth.Although the preceding description uses the relative term “large,” itwill be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that thenumerical value of “large” may vary depending on the training data setsused to train the anomaly detection model 522.

After determining the type of anomalous activity in the determineddifferences of the backups, the RPMA 516 may then communicate thedetermined differences and/or the determined anomaly type to the storagemanager 304 (Operation 1324). In one embodiment, the storage manager 304stores this information in the anomaly detection database 316, wherethis information may be later retrieved in displaying one or more of thegraphical user interfaces discussed with reference to FIGS. 6-10B.Further still, depending on the type of anomaly detected, the storagemanager 304 may automatically initiate virtualization of the clientcomputing device in which the anomalous activity was detected (e.g., viathe virtual machine host 314), and then place the affected clientcomputing device into an offline state or prohibit the affected clientcomputing device from being part of the information management system302 (e.g., by placing the media access control address of the affectedclient computing device on a blacklist). As shown in FIG. 12C, thestorage manager 304 may further generate an alert of the detectedanomaly (Operation 1326), and the alert may be communicated to theoperator and/or administrator of the information management system 302via one or more communication channels (e.g., SMS, e-mail, phone call,etc.). Where the generated alert is communicated via SMS and/or e-mail,the generated alert may further include a hyperlink to web-based commandcenter (e.g., the software illustrated in FIGS. 6-10B), where theadministrator and/or operator can learn more about the detected anomalyand take remedial measures on the affected data (Operation 1328).

FIGS. 14A-14C illustrate a method 1402, in accordance with an exampleembodiment, for interacting with a graphical user interface thatprovides anomaly detection information for one or more client computingdevices of the information management system of FIG. 3. The method 1402may be implemented by one or more of the devices and/or componentsillustrated in FIGS. 3-5.

Referring initially to FIG. 14A, a user using a client computing device(e.g., client computing device 306), may visit a web page or execute anapplication for displaying the command center graphical user interfacesillustrated in FIGS. 6-11B (Operation 1404). In user the graphical userinterfaces, the user may provide different types of input forinteracting with the displayed graphical user interfaces. In thisregards, FIG. 14A categorizes the types of input into “navigationalinput” and “operational input.” A navigational input may be an inputthat causes the displayed graphical user interface to navigate to adifferent graphical user interface. For example, selecting one or moreof the menu options from the menu panel 626 to change to a differentgraphical user interface. An operational input may be an input thateffects a change in the currently displayed graphical user interface oreffects a change in one or more of the devices or components of theinformation management system. For example, selecting the clear option724 of the graphical user interface 702 is an example of providing anoperational input. Where the input is a navigational input (e.g., the“NAVIGATION INPUT” branch of Operation 1406), the method 1402 proceedsto Operation 1408, where the displayed graphical user interface changesto a different graphical user interface based on the input. Where theinput is an operational input (e.g., the “OPERATIONAL INPUT” branch ofOperation 1406), the displayed application performs the operationassociated with the provided input (Operation 1410).

Referring to FIG. 14B is an example of some of the operations that maybe performed based on the provided operational input. In one instance,the operational input is an input that requests restoration of one ormore files to a client computing device. Following the “RESTORATION”branch from Operation 1410, a user may input a selection of one or morefiles and/or directories to restore to a client computing device(Operation 1412). For example, the user may use the graphical userinterfaces displayed in FIGS. 11A-11B to select one or files and/ordirectories displayed in the graphical user interface 1102 forrestoration. The user may then provide an input to perform therestoration of the selected files and/or directories (Operation 1414).Based on the provided instruction and the selected one or more filesand/or directories, the secondary storage computing device 312 thenperforms the requested restoration (Operation 1416).

In another instance, the operational input may be an input that requestsvirtualization of a particular client computing device. Following the“VIRTUALIZATION” branch from Operation 1410, a user may select a clientcomputing device to virtualize via the virtual machine host 314. Forexample, and with reference to FIG. 7, a user may use the graphical userinterface 702 to select a client computing device from the client table706 to virtualize (Operation 1418). Using the graphical user interface702, a user may then select the virtualization option 722 to instructthe secondary storage computing device 312 and/or the virtual machinehost 314 to begin the virtualization process of the selected clientcomputing device (Operation 1420). The virtual machine host 314 and/orthe secondary storage computing device 312 may then determine which ofthe backups of the client computing device to use in virtualizing theselected client computing device (Operation 1422). In one embodiment,the virtual machine host 314 and/or the secondary storage computingdevice 312 uses a most recent backup of the client computing device tovirtualize. In another embodiment, a user may select a backup from aplurality of backups of the client computing device to virtualize, wherethe plurality of backups were created from the client computing deviceover a period of time.

Referring to FIG. 14C, and continuing with the “VIRTUALIZATION” branch,the virtual machine host 314 may then create a virtual machine (e.g.,virtual machine 326) for virtualizing the client computing device, wherethe created virtual machine may include virtualized hardware that issimilar to the physical hardware of the client computing device(Operation 1424). As explained previously, the virtual machine host 314may store a table, data structure, or a plurality of virtual machinetemplates that the virtual machine host 314 references in creating thenew virtual machine. The virtual machine host 314 and/or the secondarystorage computing device 312 may then restore the selected backup of theclient computing device to the created virtual machine (Operation 1426).After the client computing device has been virtualized and the virtualmachine is ready for use, the virtual machine host 314 and/or thesecondary storage computing device 312 may inform the storage manager304 that the virtual machine is ready, and the storage manager 304 maythen communicate an alert or notification to the administrator oroperator of the information management system 302 that that the virtualmachine is ready (Operation 1428).

Referring back to FIG. 14B, yet another operational input that the usermay provide is an anomaly clearance input, where the anomaly clearanceinput is to clear one or more anomaly alerts for one or more clientcomputing devices. The anomaly clearance input is indicated by the“ANOMALY CLEARANCE” branch from Operation 1410, which proceeds toOperation 1430. At Operation 1430, a user of the graphical userinterfaces may provide an input indicating that the user desires toclear one or more of the detected anomalies for one or more of theclient computing devices (Operation 1410). One example of a graphicaluser interface that provides an option for clearing anomalies isillustrated at FIG. 7, where the graphical user interface 702 includes aclear option 724 that allows a user to clear one or more of thedetermined anomalies. After selecting the clear option 724, thegraphical user interface 702 may display a further prompt requestingconfirmation from the user that he or she wants to proceed with theanomaly clearance (Operation 1432). The prompt may further request thatthe user provides a reason for clearing the anomaly. The benefit ofdisplaying the prompt is that it records the reason for the anomalyclearance, which may be helpful in resolving future disputes if theanomaly was not meant to be cleared.

Continuing to FIG. 14C, the storage manager 304 may receive the reasonfor clearing the detected anomalies (Operation 1436). Further still, thestorage manager 304 may store the reason for clearing the anomaly in oneor more databases, such as the anomaly detection database 316. Thereason for the clearance may also be associated with a date of theclearance, a time of the clearance, the client computing devicecorresponding to the detected anomaly, and the type of anomaly that wasdetected.

The storage manager 304 may then clear the anomaly data selected by theuser (Operation 1438). In one embodiment, clearing the anomaly dataincludes storing a flag or other identifier indicating that the clearedanomaly data is not to be displayed in further displays of the graphicaluser interfaces. In another embodiment, clearing the anomaly data causesthe storage manager 304 to delete the anomaly data from the anomalydetection database 316. This embodiment may result in the removal ordeletion of the anomaly data, and thus, will not appear in futuredisplays of the graphical user interfaces. The storage manager 304 maythen notify an administrator and/or operator of the informationmanagement system 302 that the anomaly data was cleared from the anomalydetection database 316.

In this manner, the foregoing description provides an informationmanagement system that detects potential malware and/or ransomware inone or more client computing devices, and provides a graphical userinterface that allows an administrator or operator of the informationmanagement system to restore previously backed-up files of clientcomputing devices that may have been affected by the detected malwareand/or ransomware. In addition, the administrator or operator of theinformation management system may instantiate a virtual machine thatmimics or replicates the hardware of an affected client computingdevice, and a secondary copy of primary data of the affected clientcomputing may be restored to the instantiated virtual machine copy. Thevirtual machine may be instantiated with a secondary copy of primarydata prior to the infection of the malware and/or ransomware detected inthe client computing device. Thus, the virtual machine copy of theclient computing device may represent a restored version of the clientcomputing device prior to the infection of the malware and/orransomware. In this way, the disclosed information management systemaddresses the problem of malware and/or ransomware affecting a clientcomputing device, and allows an administrator or operator of theinformation management system to provide a working version of the clientcomputing device prior to the infection of the malware and/orransomware.

Example Embodiments

Some example enumerated embodiments of the present invention are recitedin this section in the form of methods, systems, and non-transitorycomputer-readable media, without limitation. In one embodiment, thisdisclosure describes a method of protecting file system data of a clientcomputing device being managed by a storage manager, where the methodincludes training an anomaly detection model based on file system dataobtained from one or more backup operations, monitoring file system dataof a client computing device being managed by a storage manager, whereinthe client computing device is in communication with a secondary storagecomputing device for storing a secondary copy of data of the clientcomputing device, and determining that there are one or more changes tothe file system data of the client computing device. The method may alsoinclude providing the one or more changes of the file system data to theanomaly detection model to determine whether there is an anomaly in thefile system data, determining that there is an anomaly in the filesystem data based on the anomaly detection model, and generating anotification to a user that there is an anomaly in the file system databased on the determination that there is an anomaly in the file systemdata. The method may further include transmitting the notification tothe user and providing a graphical user interface for viewing thedetermined anomaly in response to a selection of the generatednotification.

In another embodiment of the method, the graphical user interfacedisplays an activity summary of the file system data based on thedetermined anomaly, and the graphical user interface displays a type ofthe determined anomaly in the activity summary.

In a further embodiment of the method, the graphical user interfacedisplays a detected time when the determined anomaly was detected.

In yet another embodiment of the method, the method includes displayingat least one file system directory based on the determined anomaly inthe file system data, displaying at least one option to restore a priorversion of the at least one file system directory stored as a secondarycopy managed by the secondary storage computing device, receiving aninput of the at least one option to restore to the prior version, andrestoring the prior version of the at least one file system directory tothe client computing device.

In yet a further embodiment of the method, the method includesdisplaying an identifier representing the client computing device in thegraphical user interface based on the determined anomaly in the filesystem data with at least one option to create a virtual machine copy ofthe client computing device, receiving an input of the at least oneoption to create the virtual machine copy of the client computingdevice, and creating the virtual machine copy of the client computingdevice.

In another embodiment of the method, the method includes determining abackup copy of the client computing device to use in creating a virtualmachine copy of the client computing device, wherein the backup copy isstored as a secondary copy managed by the secondary storage computingdevice, the determined backup copy originated from the client computingdevice prior to the detected anomaly in the file system data, andcreating the virtual machine copy of the client computing devicecomprises creating the virtual machine copy from the determined backupcopy.

In a further embodiment of the method, the method includes displaying ageographic location of the client computing device having the detectedanomaly in the file system data on a geographic map displayed by thegraphical user interface.

This disclosure further provides a system for protecting the file systemdata of a client computing device, where the system includes one or morenon-transitory, computer-readable mediums having computer-executableinstructions stored thereon, and one or more processors that, havingexecuted the computer-executable instructions, configures the system toperform a plurality of operations that includes training an anomalydetection model based on file system data obtained from one or morebackup operations, monitoring file system data of a client computingdevice being managed by a storage manager, wherein the client computingdevice is in communication with a secondary storage computing device forstoring a secondary copy of data of the client computing device, anddetermining that there are one or more changes to the file system dataof the client computing device. The plurality of operations may alsoinclude providing the one or more changes of the file system data to theanomaly detection model to determine whether there is an anomaly in thefile system data, determining that there is an anomaly in the filesystem data based on the anomaly detection model, and generating anotification to a user that there is an anomaly in the file system databased on the determination that there is an anomaly in the file systemdata. The plurality of operations may further include transmitting thenotification to the user and providing a graphical user interface forviewing the determined anomaly in response to a selection of thegenerated notification.

In another embodiment of the system, the graphical user interfacedisplays an activity summary of the file system data based on thedetermined anomaly, and the graphical user interface displays a type ofthe determined anomaly in the activity summary.

In a further embodiment of the system, the graphical user interfacedisplays a detected time when the determined anomaly was detected.

In yet another embodiment of the system, the plurality of operationsfurther includes displaying at least one file system directory based onthe determined anomaly in the file system data, displaying at least oneoption to restore a prior version of the at least one file systemdirectory stored as a secondary copy managed by the secondary storagecomputing device, receiving an input of the at least one option torestore to the prior version, and restoring the prior version of the atleast one file system directory to the client computing device.

In yet a further embodiment of the system, the plurality of operationsfurther includes displaying an identifier representing the clientcomputing device in the graphical user interface based on the determinedanomaly in the file system data with at least one option to create avirtual machine copy of the client computing device, receiving an inputof the at least one option to create the virtual machine copy of theclient computing device, and creating the virtual machine copy of theclient computing device.

In another embodiment of the system, the plurality of operations furtherincludes determining a backup copy of the client computing device to usein creating a virtual machine copy of the client computing device,wherein the backup copy is stored as a secondary copy managed by thesecondary storage computing device, the determined backup copyoriginated from the client computing device prior to the detectedanomaly in the file system data, and creating the virtual machine copyof the client computing device comprises creating the virtual machinecopy from the determined backup copy.

In a further embodiment of the system, the plurality of operationsfurther includes displaying a geographic location of the clientcomputing device having the detected anomaly in the file system data ona geographic map displayed by the graphical user interface.

This disclosure also describes a non-transitory, computer-readablemedium having computer-executable instructions stored that, whenexecuted by one or more processors, configures a system to perform aplurality of operations that includes training an anomaly detectionmodel based on file system data obtained from one or more backupoperations, monitoring file system data of a client computing devicebeing managed by a storage manager, wherein the client computing deviceis in communication with a secondary storage computing device forstoring a secondary copy of data of the client computing device, anddetermining that there are one or more changes to the file system dataof the client computing device. The plurality of operations may alsoinclude providing the one or more changes of the file system data to theanomaly detection model to determine whether there is an anomaly in thefile system data, determining that there is an anomaly in the filesystem data based on the anomaly detection model, and generating anotification to a user that there is an anomaly in the file system databased on the determination that there is an anomaly in the file systemdata. The plurality of operations may further include transmitting thenotification to the user and providing a graphical user interface forviewing the determined anomaly in response to a selection of thegenerated notification.

In another embodiment of the non-transitory, computer-readable medium,the graphical user interface displays an activity summary of the filesystem data based on the determined anomaly, and the graphical userinterface displays a type of the determined anomaly in the activitysummary.

In a further embodiment of the non-transitory, computer-readable medium,the graphical user interface displays a detected time when thedetermined anomaly was detected.

In yet another embodiment of the non-transitory, computer-readablemedium, the plurality of operations further includes displaying at leastone file system directory based on the determined anomaly in the filesystem data, displaying at least one option to restore a prior versionof the at least one file system directory stored as a secondary copymanaged by the secondary storage computing device, receiving an input ofthe at least one option to restore to the prior version, and restoringthe prior version of the at least one file system directory to theclient computing device.

In yet a further embodiment of the non-transitory, computer-readablemedium, the plurality of operations further includes displaying anidentifier representing the client computing device in the graphicaluser interface based on the determined anomaly in the file system datawith at least one option to create a virtual machine copy of the clientcomputing device, receiving an input of the at least one option tocreate the virtual machine copy of the client computing device, andcreating the virtual machine copy of the client computing device.

In another embodiment of the non-transitory, computer-readable medium,the plurality of operations further includes determining a backup copyof the client computing device to use in creating a virtual machine copyof the client computing device, wherein the backup copy is stored as asecondary copy managed by the secondary storage computing device, thedetermined backup copy originated from the client computing device priorto the detected anomaly in the file system data, and creating thevirtual machine copy of the client computing device comprises creatingthe virtual machine copy from the determined backup copy.

In a further embodiment of the non-transitory, computer-readable medium,the plurality of operations further includes displaying a geographiclocation of the client computing device having the detected anomaly inthe file system data on a geographic map displayed by the graphical userinterface.

This disclosure further describes a method for protecting file systemdata of a client computing device being managed by a storage manager,the method comprising training an anomaly detection model based on filesystem data obtained from one or more backup operations, receiving asecondary copy of data from a client computing device being managed by astorage manager, wherein the client computing device is in communicationwith a secondary storage computing device for storing the secondarycopy, and determining that there are one or more changes to thesecondary copy. The method also includes providing the one or morechanges of the secondary copy to the anomaly detection model todetermine whether there is an anomaly in file system data of thesecondary copy, determining that there is an anomaly in the secondarycopy based on the anomaly detection model, and generating a notificationto a user that there is an anomaly in the secondary copy based on thedetermination that there is an anomaly in the secondary copy. The methodfurther includes transmitting the notification to the user, andproviding a graphical user interface for viewing the determined anomalyin response to a selection of the generated notification.

In another embodiment of the method, the graphical user interfacedisplays an activity summary of the secondary copy based on thedetermined anomaly, and the graphical user interface displays a type ofthe determined anomaly in the activity summary.

In a further embodiment of the method, the graphical user interfacedisplays a detected time when the determined anomaly was detected.

In yet another embodiment of the method, the method further includesdisplaying at least one file system directory based on the determinedanomaly in the secondary copy, displaying at least one option to restorea prior version of the at least one file system directory stored assecondary copy managed by the secondary storage computing device,receiving an input of the at least one option to restore to the priorversion, and restoring the prior version of the at least one file systemdirectory to the client computing device.

In yet a further embodiment of the method, the method further includesdisplaying an identifier representing the client computing device in thegraphical user interface based on the determined anomaly in thesecondary copy with at least one option to create a virtual machine copyof the client computing device, receiving an input of the at least oneoption to create the virtual machine copy of the client computingdevice, and creating the virtual machine copy of the client computingdevice.

In another embodiment of the method, the method further includesdetermining a backup copy of the client computing device to use increating a virtual machine copy of the client computing device, whereinthe backup copy is stored as a secondary copy managed by the secondarystorage computing device, and the determined backup copy originated fromthe client computing device prior to the detected anomaly in thesecondary copy. In addition, creating the virtual machine copy of theclient computing device comprises creating the virtual machine copy fromthe determined backup copy.

In a further embodiment of the method, determining that there are one ormore changes to the secondary copy comprises comparing the receivedsecondary copy with a prior backup copy of the client computing device,wherein the prior copy is managed by the secondary storage computingdevice.

This disclosure also describes a system that includes one or morenon-transitory, computer-readable having computer-executableinstructions stored thereon and one or more processors that, havingexecuted the computer-executable instructions, configure the system toperform a plurality of operations that includes training an anomalydetection model based on file system data obtained from one or morebackup operations, receiving a secondary copy of data from a clientcomputing device being managed by a storage manager, wherein the clientcomputing device is in communication with a secondary storage computingdevice for storing the secondary copy, and determining that there areone or more changes to the secondary copy. The plurality of operationsalso includes providing the one or more changes of the secondary copy tothe anomaly detection model to determine whether there is an anomaly infile system data of the secondary copy, determining that there is ananomaly in the secondary copy based on the anomaly detection model, andgenerating a notification to a user that there is an anomaly in thesecondary copy based on the determination that there is an anomaly inthe secondary copy. The plurality of operations further includestransmitting the notification to the user, and providing a graphicaluser interface for viewing the determined anomaly in response to aselection of the generated notification.

In another embodiment of the system, the graphical user interfacedisplays an activity summary of the secondary copy based on thedetermined anomaly, and the graphical user interface displays a type ofthe determined anomaly in the activity summary.

In a further embodiment of the system, the graphical user interfacedisplays a detected time when the determined anomaly was detected.

In yet another embodiment of the system, the plurality of operationsfurther includes displaying at least one file system directory based onthe determined anomaly in the secondary copy, displaying at least oneoption to restore a prior version of the at least one file systemdirectory stored as a secondary copy managed by the secondary storagecomputing device, receiving an input of the at least one option torestore to the prior version, and restoring the prior version of the atleast one file system directory to the client computing device.

In yet a further embodiment of the system, the plurality of operationsfurther includes displaying an identifier representing the clientcomputing device in the graphical user interface based on the determinedanomaly in the secondary copy with at least one option to create avirtual machine copy of the client computing device, receiving an inputof the at least one option to create the virtual machine copy of theclient computing device, and creating the virtual machine copy of theclient computing device.

In another embodiment of the system, the plurality of operations furtherincludes determining a backup copy of the client computing device to usein creating a virtual machine copy of the client computing device,wherein the backup copy is stored as a secondary copy managed by thesecondary storage computing device, and the determined backup copyoriginated from the client computing device prior to the detectedanomaly in the secondary copy. In addition, creating the virtual machinecopy of the client computing device comprises creating the virtualmachine copy from the determined backup copy.

In a further embodiment of the system, determining that there are one ormore changes to the secondary copy comprises comparing the receivedsecondary copy with a prior backup copy of the client computing device,wherein the prior copy is managed by the secondary storage computingdevice.

This disclosure also describes a non-transitory, computer-readablemedium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, whenexecuted by one or more processors, configures a system to perform aplurality of operations that includes training an anomaly detectionmodel based on file system data obtained from one or more backupoperations, receiving a secondary copy of data from a client computingdevice being managed by a storage manager, wherein the client computingdevice is in communication with a secondary storage computing device forstoring the secondary copy, and determining that there are one or morechanges to the secondary copy. The plurality of operations also includesproviding the one or more changes of the secondary copy to the anomalydetection model to determine whether there is an anomaly in file systemdata of the secondary copy, determining that there is an anomaly in thesecondary copy based on the anomaly detection model, and generating anotification to a user that there is an anomaly in the secondary copybased on the determination that there is an anomaly in the secondarycopy. The plurality of operations further includes transmitting thenotification to the user, and providing a graphical user interface forviewing the determined anomaly in response to a selection of thegenerated notification.

In another embodiment of the non-transitory, computer-readable medium,the graphical user interface displays an activity summary of thesecondary copy based on the determined anomaly, and the graphical userinterface displays a type of the determined anomaly in the activitysummary.

In a further embodiment of the non-transitory, computer-readable medium,the graphical user interface displays a detected time when thedetermined anomaly was detected.

In yet another embodiment of the non-transitory, computer-readablemedium, the plurality of operations further includes displaying at leastone file system directory based on the determined anomaly in thesecondary copy, displaying at least one option to restore a priorversion of the at least one file system directory stored as secondarycopy managed by the secondary storage computing device, receiving aninput of the at least one option to restore to the prior version, andrestoring the prior version of the at least one file system directory tothe client computing device.

In yet a further embodiment of the non-transitory, computer-readablemedium, the plurality of operations further includes displaying anidentifier representing the client computing device in the graphicaluser interface based on the determined anomaly in the secondary copywith at least one option to create a virtual machine copy of the clientcomputing device, receiving an input of the at least one option tocreate the virtual machine copy of the client computing device, andcreating the virtual machine copy of the client computing device.

In another embodiment of the non-transitory, computer-readable medium,the plurality of operations further includes determining a backup copyof the client computing device to use in creating a virtual machine copyof the client computing device, wherein the backup copy is stored assecondary copy managed by the secondary storage computing device, andthe determined backup copy originated from the client computing deviceprior to the detected anomaly in the secondary copy. In addition,creating the virtual machine copy of the client computing devicecomprises creating the virtual machine copy from the determined backupcopy.

In a further embodiment of the non-transitory, computer-readable medium,determining that there are one or more changes to the secondary copycomprises comparing the received secondary copy with a prior backup copyof the client computing device, wherein the prior copy is managed by thesecondary storage computing device.

In other embodiments according to the present invention, a system orsystems operates according to one or more of the methods and/orcomputer-readable media recited in the preceding paragraphs. In yetother embodiments, a method or methods operates according to one or moreof the systems and/or computer-readable media recited in the precedingparagraphs. In yet more embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readablemedium or media causes one or more computing devices having one or moreprocessors and computer-readable memory to operate according to one ormore of the systems and/or methods recited in the preceding paragraphs.

Terminology

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainembodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certainfeatures, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is notgenerally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are inany way required for one or more embodiments or that one or moreembodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without userinput or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps areincluded or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout thedescription and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and thelike are to be construed in an inclusive sense, as opposed to anexclusive or exhaustive sense, i.e., in the sense of “including, but notlimited to.” As used herein, the terms “connected,” “coupled,” or anyvariant thereof means any connection or coupling, either direct orindirect, between two or more elements; the coupling or connectionbetween the elements can be physical, logical, or a combination thereof.Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below,” and words of similarimport, when used in this application, refer to this application as awhole and not to any particular portions of this application. Where thecontext permits, words using the singular or plural number may alsoinclude the plural or singular number respectively. The word “or” inreference to a list of two or more items, covers all of the followinginterpretations of the word: any one of the items in the list, all ofthe items in the list, and any combination of the items in the list.Likewise the term “and/or” in reference to a list of two or more items,covers all of the following interpretations of the word: any one of theitems in the list, all of the items in the list, and any combination ofthe items in the list.

In some embodiments, certain operations, acts, events, or functions ofany of the algorithms described herein can be performed in a differentsequence, can be added, merged, or left out altogether (e.g., not allare necessary for the practice of the algorithms). In certainembodiments, operations, acts, functions, or events can be performedconcurrently, e.g., through multi-threaded processing, interruptprocessing, or multiple processors or processor cores or on otherparallel architectures, rather than sequentially.

Systems and modules described herein may comprise software, firmware,hardware, or any combination(s) of software, firmware, or hardwaresuitable for the purposes described. Software and other modules mayreside and execute on servers, workstations, personal computers,computerized tablets, PDAs, and other computing devices suitable for thepurposes described herein. Software and other modules may be accessiblevia local computer memory, via a network, via a browser, or via othermeans suitable for the purposes described herein. Data structuresdescribed herein may comprise computer files, variables, programmingarrays, programming structures, or any electronic information storageschemes or methods, or any combinations thereof, suitable for thepurposes described herein. User interface elements described herein maycomprise elements from graphical user interfaces, interactive voiceresponse, command line interfaces, and other suitable interfaces.

Further, processing of the various components of the illustrated systemscan be distributed across multiple machines, networks, and othercomputing resources. Two or more components of a system can be combinedinto fewer components. Various components of the illustrated systems canbe implemented in one or more virtual machines, rather than in dedicatedcomputer hardware systems and/or computing devices. Likewise, the datarepositories shown can represent physical and/or logical data storage,including, e.g., storage area networks or other distributed storagesystems. Moreover, in some embodiments the connections between thecomponents shown represent possible paths of data flow, rather thanactual connections between hardware. While some examples of possibleconnections are shown, any of the subset of the components shown cancommunicate with any other subset of components in variousimplementations.

Embodiments are also described above with reference to flow chartillustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) andcomputer program products. Each block of the flow chart illustrationsand/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flow chartillustrations and/or block diagrams, may be implemented by computerprogram instructions. Such instructions may be provided to a processorof a general purpose computer, special purpose computer,specially-equipped computer (e.g., comprising a high-performancedatabase server, a graphics subsystem, etc.) or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions,which execute via the processor(s) of the computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus, create means for implementing the actsspecified in the flow chart and/or block diagram block or blocks. Thesecomputer program instructions may also be stored in a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to operate in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the acts specified in the flow chart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also beloaded to a computing device or other programmable data processingapparatus to cause operations to be performed on the computing device orother programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented processsuch that the instructions which execute on the computing device orother programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the actsspecified in the flow chart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

Any patents and applications and other references noted above, includingany that may be listed in accompanying filing papers, are incorporatedherein by reference. Aspects of the invention can be modified, ifnecessary, to employ the systems, functions, and concepts of the variousreferences described above to provide yet further implementations of theinvention. These and other changes can be made to the invention in lightof the above Detailed Description. While the above description describescertain examples of the invention, and describes the best modecontemplated, no matter how detailed the above appears in text, theinvention can be practiced in many ways. Details of the system may varyconsiderably in its specific implementation, while still beingencompassed by the invention disclosed herein. As noted above,particular terminology used when describing certain features or aspectsof the invention should not be taken to imply that the terminology isbeing redefined herein to be restricted to any specific characteristics,features, or aspects of the invention with which that terminology isassociated. In general, the terms used in the following claims shouldnot be construed to limit the invention to the specific examplesdisclosed in the specification, unless the above Detailed Descriptionsection explicitly defines such terms. Accordingly, the actual scope ofthe invention encompasses not only the disclosed examples, but also allequivalent ways of practicing or implementing the invention under theclaims.

To reduce the number of claims, certain aspects of the invention arepresented below in certain claim forms, but the applicant contemplatesother aspects of the invention in any number of claim forms. Forexample, while only one aspect of the invention is recited as ameans-plus-function claim under 35 U.S.C sec. 112(f) (AIA), otheraspects may likewise be embodied as a means-plus-function claim, or inother forms, such as being embodied in a computer-readable medium. Anyclaims intended to be treated under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) will begin withthe words “means for,” but use of the term “for” in any other context isnot intended to invoke treatment under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f). Accordingly,the applicant reserves the right to pursue additional claims afterfiling this application, in either this application or in a continuingapplication.

We claim:
 1. A method for protecting file system data of a clientcomputing device being managed by a storage manager, the methodcomprising: training an anomaly detection model based on file systemdata obtained from one or more backup operations; monitoring file systemdata of a client computing device being managed by a storage manager,wherein the client computing device is in communication with a secondarystorage computing device for storing a secondary copy of data of theclient computing device; determining that there are one or more changesto the file system data of the client computing device; providing theone or more changes of the file system data to the anomaly detectionmodel to determine whether there is an anomaly in the file system data;determining that there is an anomaly in the file system data based onthe anomaly detection model; and, generating a notification to a userthat there is an anomaly in the file system data based on thedetermination that there is an anomaly in the file system data.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the notification tothe user and providing a graphical user interface for viewing thedetermined anomaly in response to a selection of the generatednotification.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical userinterface displays: an activity summary of the file system data based onthe determined anomaly; a type of the determined anomaly in the activitysummary; and, a detected time when the determined anomaly was detected.4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying at least onefile system directory based on the determined anomaly in the file systemdata; displaying at least one option to restore a prior version of theat least one file system directory stored as a secondary copy managed bythe secondary storage computing device; receiving an input of the atleast one option to restore to the prior version; and, restoring theprior version of the at least one file system directory to the clientcomputing device.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:displaying an identifier representing the client computing device in thegraphical user interface based on the determined anomaly in the filesystem data with at least one option to create a virtual machine copy ofthe client computing device; receiving an input of the at least oneoption to create the virtual machine copy of the client computingdevice; and, creating the virtual machine copy of the client computingdevice.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining abackup copy of the client computing device to use in creating a virtualmachine copy of the client computing device, wherein: the backup copy isstored as a secondary copy managed by the secondary storage computingdevice, the determined backup copy originated from the client computingdevice prior to the detected anomaly in the file system data, and,creating the virtual machine copy of the client computing devicecomprises creating the virtual machine copy from the determined backupcopy.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying ageographic location of the client computing device having the detectedanomaly in the file system data on a geographic map displayed by thegraphical user interface.
 8. A system for protecting file system data ofa client computing device, the system comprising: one or morenon-transitory, computer-readable mediums having computer-executableinstructions stored thereon; and, one or more processors that, havingexecuted the computer-executable instructions, configures the system toperform a plurality of operations comprising: training an anomalydetection model based on file system data obtained from one or morebackup operations; monitoring file system data of a client computingdevice being managed by a storage manager, wherein the client computingdevice is in communication with a secondary storage computing device forstoring a secondary copy of data of the client computing device;determining that there are one or more changes to the file system dataof the client computing device; providing the one or more changes of thefile system data to the anomaly detection model to determine whetherthere is an anomaly in the file system data; determining that there isan anomaly in the file system data based on the anomaly detection model;and, generating a notification to a user that there is an anomaly in thefile system data based on the determination that there is an anomaly inthe file system data.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the plurality ofoperations further includes transmitting the notification to the userand providing a graphical user interface for viewing the determinedanomaly in response to a selection of the generated notification. 10.The system of claim 8, wherein the graphical user interface displays: anactivity summary of the file system data based on the determinedanomaly; a type of the determined anomaly in the activity summary; and,a detected time when the determined anomaly was detected.
 11. The systemof claim 8, wherein the plurality of operations further includes:displaying at least one file system directory based on the determinedanomaly in the file system data; displaying at least one option torestore a prior version of the at least one file system directory storedas a secondary copy managed by the secondary storage computing device;receiving an input of the at least one option to restore to the priorversion; and, restoring the prior version of the at least one filesystem directory to the client computing device.
 12. The system of claim8, wherein the plurality of operations further includes: displaying anidentifier representing the client computing device in the graphicaluser interface based on the determined anomaly in the file system datawith at least one option to create a virtual machine copy of the clientcomputing device; receiving an input of the at least one option tocreate the virtual machine copy of the client computing device; and,creating the virtual machine copy of the client computing device. 13.The system of claim 8, wherein the plurality of operations furtherincludes: determining a backup copy of the client computing device touse in creating a virtual machine copy of the client computing device,wherein: the backup copy is stored as a secondary copy managed by thesecondary storage computing device, the determined backup copyoriginated from the client computing device prior to the detectedanomaly in the file system data, and creating the virtual machine copyof the client computing device comprises creating the virtual machinecopy from the determined backup copy.
 14. The system of claim 8, whereinthe plurality of operations further includes displaying a geographiclocation of the client computing device having the detected anomaly inthe file system data on a geographic map displayed by the graphical userinterface.
 15. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium havingcomputer-executable instructions stored that, when executed by one ormore processors, configures a system to perform a plurality ofoperations that comprises: training an anomaly detection model based onfile system data obtained from one or more backup operations; monitoringfile system data of a client computing device being managed by a storagemanager, wherein the client computing device is in communication with asecondary storage computing device for storing a secondary copy of dataof the client computing device; determining that there are one or morechanges to the file system data of the client computing device;providing the one or more changes of the file system data to the anomalydetection model to determine whether there is an anomaly in the filesystem data; determining that there is an anomaly in the file systemdata based on the anomaly detection model; and, generating anotification to a user that there is an anomaly in the file system databased on the determination that there is an anomaly in the file systemdata.
 16. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 15,wherein the plurality of operations further comprises transmitting thenotification to the user and providing a graphical user interface forviewing the determined anomaly in response to a selection of thegenerated notification.
 17. The non-transitory, computer-readable mediumof claim 15, wherein the graphical user interface displays: an activitysummary of the file system data based on the determined anomaly; a typeof the determined anomaly in the activity summary; and, a detected timewhen the determined anomaly was detected.
 18. The non-transitory,computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the plurality ofoperations further comprises: displaying at least one file systemdirectory based on the determined anomaly in the file system data;displaying at least one option to restore a prior version of the atleast one file system directory stored as a secondary copy managed bythe secondary storage computing device; and, receiving an input of theat least one option to restore to the prior version, and restoring theprior version of the at least one file system directory to the clientcomputing device.
 19. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium ofclaim 15, wherein the plurality of operations further comprises:displaying an identifier representing the client computing device in thegraphical user interface based on the determined anomaly in the filesystem data with at least one option to create a virtual machine copy ofthe client computing device; receiving an input of the at least oneoption to create the virtual machine copy of the client computingdevice; and, creating the virtual machine copy of the client computingdevice.
 20. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 15,wherein the plurality of operations further comprises: determining abackup copy of the client computing device to use in creating a virtualmachine copy of the client computing device, wherein: the backup copy isstored as a secondary copy managed by the secondary storage computingdevice, the determined backup copy originated from the client computingdevice prior to the detected anomaly in the file system data, andcreating the virtual machine copy of the client computing devicecomprises creating the virtual machine copy from the determined backupcopy.